Alert in the telecommunications sector: mobile phone sales suffer the biggest drop in its history

There is no precedent in the history of mobile telephony with which to buy the latest data from the IDC consultancy.

In the fourth quarter of 2022,

.

It is quite a blow for a sector that often relies on the Christmas shopping period to save the accounts for the year and that has contributed significantly to the fact that 2022, as a whole, has closed with a fall of 11.3% in number of terminals sold.

Analysts themselves have been caught off guard by the crash.

"We have never seen sales in the last quarter of the year be lower than in the previous one, but

," explains Nabila Popal, the team's research director. IDC Worldwide Tracker.

As often happens in these cases, there is no single factor that explains the sudden slowdown in the sector.

Economic uncertainty is forcing sellers to be much more conservative with their orders, but unexpected problems have also arisen in the production chain.

Consumers also

.

Nobody is saved.

Even

, which tends to be more resistant to these types of free-fall markets,

.

The sale of iPhone, according to the consultancy, has fallen almost 15%.

A total of 72 million of these phones have been sold, 10 million less than in the same period last year.

In the case of Apple, it has not been so much due to a lack of demand as the result of having to stop its manufacturing plants in Shenzhen for several days due to an outbreak of Covid-19.

affected the iPhone 14 Pro models

, the most in demand and with which the company generates the most income.

In the weeks leading up to Christmas, when sales tend to skyrocket, the company's stores would put out of stock signs on virtually all models and only guarantee deliveries in mid-January.

For other manufacturers the situation has been even worse.

Xiaomi's sales, for example,

.

Almost all that has been sold is inventory from prior quarters, and thanks to aggressive bidding.

"2023 is going to be a year in which

. Manufacturers will have to reevaluate their catalogs and the channel will think twice before assuming excess inventory. The positive note is that consumers will find better offers, "he explains Anthony Scarsella, director of research at IDC.

The disastrous close of 2022 has even jeopardized recovery predictions for 2023. IDC expects the year to close with a 2.8% increase in the number of phones sold, but if demand picks up, it won't be until late of year.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

• Apple Inc.

• Xiaomi