BEIJING, June 30 (TMTPOST)— The worldwide smartphone market has not been out of the woods yet, partly due to the Covid-19 lockdowns and other restrictions in China.

Source: Visual China

Sales of the smartphone market across the globe in May fell 10% year-over-year (YoY) to 96 million units, the second time for the global sales to dip below 100 million units in eight years, according to a note from Counterpoint Research on Thursday. The sales suggest a YoY decline for 11th straight month, with a 4% month-over-month (MoM) decline as the second consecutive MoM decline, data of the market research company showed. Unlike the market shock mainly from supply constraints and Covid waves, Counterpoint noted the market this year was hit most by a demand slump resulted from factors including the Russia-Ukraine crisis and the economic slowdown of China, the world’s biggest smartphone market.

“China’s lockdowns and prolonged economic slowdown has been hurting domestic demand as well as undermining the global supply chain. The smartphone market in China recovered slightly month on month in May as lockdowns eased, however, it remained 17% below May 2021,” Counterpoint’s senior analyst Varun Mishra commented.  The analyst also mentioned the damaging impact on demand in Eastern Europe owing to the uncertainty created by Ukraine crisis. None of the OEMs seems to be spared from the negative impact on demand caused by these factors, he added.

However, Counterpoint pointed out the silver lining its macro index suggested as the second quarter could be the most heavily impacted this year in terms of sales. It predicted that sales in the next half of the year would improve gradually, mainly thanks to “a more normalized situation in China, continued improvement in the supply-demand balance in tech supply chains, and a better macroeconomic landscape if inflation peaks in the mid-year period before heading back down”. And the next six months also have seasonal promotions in several regions, such as the past shopping festival June 18 and the Singles' Day, or Double 11 in Novemember, China’s biggest online shopping event.

Counterpoint data came on the same day that Gartner, another market researcher, significantly lowered its projection of the annual mobile phone sales. Garter now expects the worldwide mobile sales to slump 7.1% this year, compared with a growth of 2.2% it earlier estimated. It also slashed the mobile shipment forecast in 2022 from 1.6 billion units to 1.46 billion. Gartner said smartphone shipments in the whole world were expected to decline 5.8% this year, while shipments in greater China expected to fall 18.3%, citing the beating on demand from Covid curbs that halted activity in Shanghai and other key economic hubs.