Earlier today Patently Apple posted a report about the iPhone bucking a downward trend in China and posting a 3.2% gain for Q1 2022 year-over-year and tonight IDC has posted a report covering Q1 2022 Worldwide smartphone shipments and once again, Apple was the only top smartphone vendor to show a gain of 2.2% while Xiaomi, Oppo and vivo fell by 17.8%, 26.8% and 27.7% respectively. Samsung was the top vendor by volume but fell 1.2% for the first quarter.

(Click on image to greatly Enlarge)

Overall, IDC reports that worldwide smartphone shipments declined 8.9% year over year in the first quarter of 2022 (1Q22). This marks the third consecutive quarter of decline for the smartphone market as shipments fell to 314.1 million units in the quarter, about 3.5% lower than IDC forecast in February.

Nabila Popal research director at IDC: "Although some decline was expected in Q1, due to the ongoing supply and logistical challenges and a difficult year-over-year comparison, things seemed to have taken a turn for the worse. Consumer sentiment across all regions, and especially China, is broadly negative with heavy concerns around inflation and economic instability that have dampened consumer spending. This is now coupled with the rising costs of components and transportation and the recent lockdowns in Shanghai, which are exacerbating an already difficult situation. On top of all this is the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which immediately impacted that region and continues on an unknown trajectory. Given all these uncertainties, most OEMs are adopting a more conservative growth strategy for 2022."

Ryan Reith, group vice president with IDC's Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers: "It goes without saying that the world continues to face numerous challenges, whether it be geopolitical, pandemic related, or macroeconomic. Almost everything that’s happened in recent months has been a headwind on the smartphone market, and realistically many other technology segments. For more, read the full IDC report.

Although Apple made gains in smartphone shipments in China and globally when others declined, Wall Street didn't send Apple stock higher on their positive 9% growth for calendar Q1 (Fiscal Q2) results this afternoon due to Apple's forecast for Fiscal Q3.

Apple CFO Luca Maestri warned of several challenges in the current quarter, including supply constraints related to Covid-19 that could hurt sales by between $4 billion and $8 billion. The stock is down 2.22% after hours, but could change by tomorrow morning.