IT House News on March 9, despite the decline in sales and the weak market, Apple continued to dominate the Japanese smartphone market share throughout 2022.
The fourth quarter of 2022 was tough for Apple due to production issues with the iPhone 14 Pro, which also dragged down an otherwise positive year. However, the new data shows that Apple has maintained its dominance in Japan despite the obstacles.
A report by IDC Japan breaks down smartphone shipments in Japan in the fourth quarter and throughout 2022. The data shows that Apple's iPhone continues to be the best-selling product in this market, ahead of competitors such as Sharp, Samsung, and Sony.
Japanese smartphone Q4 smartphone
In the fourth quarter of 2022, Japanese smartphone shipments were 8.5 million units, down 16%. Apple sold 51.9% of devices, or a total of 4.41 million units, followed by Android manufacturers with 4.1 million.
Total shipments of the smartphone market and Android/iOS operating systems declined at a similar rate — about 16%.
Looking at the fourth-quarter performance of regular mobile phone (IT House Note: including smartphones and non-smartphones) suppliers, Apple topped the list with 51.2%. Second-place Sharp shipped 1.2 million units (13.8% share), third-place Samsung shipped 750,000 units (8.7% share), fourth-place FCNT shipped 730,000 units (8.5% share), and fifth-place Sony shipped 560,000 units (6.5% share).
Regular phones in Japan 2022
In addition, 34.3 million conventional mobile phones (IT House Note: including smartphones and non-smartphones) were 34.3 million units in 2022, down 8.1% year-on-year. Among the top five manufacturers by market share, Apple topped the list with 16.6 million units (48.4% share), followed by Sharp with 3.8 million units (11.1% share) and Sharp with 3.5 million units (10.3% share). Samsung ranked fourth with 3.1 million units (9.0% share) and Sony ranked fifth with 2.6 million units (7.5% share).
The report attributes Apple's continued success to carriers running smartphone promotions. The decline in iPhone sales in the quarter was attributed to a weaker yen, global inflation, and the end of iPhone sales at retailers. In addition, except for some low-cost models, Android systems are affected by the expected recent decline in demand by telecom operators.
A report by IDC market analyst Masafumi Ibe mentions the difficulties in the smartphone supply chain as another factor. As 5G becomes a stable commodity element, vendors need to look for new technologies to drive sales.