A new analytical report released by Canalys today notes that worldwide smartphone shipments fell 17% year on year in Q4 2022. In the big picture, Apple reclaimed the top spot in Q4 and achieved its highest quarterly market share ever at 25%, despite facing shrinking demand and manufacturing issues in Zhengzhou. If true, Apple could surprise the market when they report their Financial Results for Fiscal Q1 2023 on February 2.

(Click on chart to Enlarge)

The traditional Canalys smartphone charts of the past would included "shipment" statistics to support their market share stats. Oddly this is missing in this report. Whether Canalys will update their chart in the coming hours or days is unknown at this time. We'll update our chart should this information be made available.

While low-to-mid-range demand fell fast in previous quarters, high-end demand began to show weakness in Q4, mainly due to Foxconn's COVID shutdown and worker unrest.

“Vendors will approach 2023 cautiously, prioritizing profitability and protecting market share,” said Canalys Research Analyst Le Xuan Chiew. “Vendors are cutting costs to adapt to the new market reality.

Canalys also published a chart for all of 2022 with Samsung coming in at 22% and Apple with 19%. You could review more of Canalys statistics here.