Canalys: iPhone Sales Grow Slightly in War-Hit Europe

iPhone 13 Pro - Image via Apple

25 MAY 2022 - iPhone pulled off something pretty impressive in Europe last quarter. A piece from 9 to 5 Mac has the market tracker Canalys indicating that Apple grew both European iPhone sales and marketshare last quarter - one of only two companies to do so. Running down the Canalys top-five smartphone makers in Europe for the March-quarter:

• First place Samsung sold an estimated 14.6-million units. While it’s 35% market shares was unchanged from the same quarter a year earlier, units were down about 9%

• Second place Apple sold an estimated 8.9-million units, an increase of 1% year-on-year. That was enough to grow Apple’s market share from 19% to 21%

• Third place Xiaomi saw sales plummet 22%, selling an estimated 8.2-million units. The company’s marketshare dropped from 23% to 20%

• Fourth place realme was the biggest winner in terms of growth. That company sold an estimated 2.1-million units, up a whopping 177% from the 800,000 it’s estimated to have sold in the same quarter a year ago. Its marketshare grew from 2% to 5%

• Fifth place OPPO saw sales fall from an estimated 2-million units to an estimated 1.8-million - a 12% decline. That left the company with a 4% marketshare, same as the year-ago quarter

What happened was war. According to Calays:

Most of the decline in Europe was due to Russia and Ukraine being hit hard. Shipments in the countries fell 31% and 51% respectively compared with Q1 2021… Shipments in the rest of Europe only declined 3.5% year on year, showing that demand remains intact. But the ongoing war has driven inflation to a record level and consumer confidence is falling. The real test for the smartphone market will come in the next two quarters, when the economic impact of the war truly starts to be felt.