Europe smartphone sales decline by 12% in Q1. The worst result since 2013.

The latest report from Counterpoint for the European smartphone market says that in the first quarter of 2022. sales fell 12%. In that period, 49 million devices have been sold, which is the worst result since 2013.

There are several factors for such a bad situation. The main is disruption of supply chains after the covid pandemic. Current lockdowns of entire cities in China are also cited, and another reason is the war in Ukraine, due to which Samsung and Apple completely withdrew their deliveries to Russia, which had had half of the market share.

Poor sales are not over, as the effects of the war will be felt in the second quarter as well. Namely, already disrupted supply chains will be further complicated by sanctions, which also threaten the shortage of rare metals and other raw materials that had been largely imported from Russia.

The largest decline in sales in Europe affected Xiaomi, whose sales fell by 36%, while Oppo recorded an 8% decline. Samsung’s sales fell 16% and Apple’s 6%. All other manufacturers together achieved a 12% drop in sales.