European smartphone shipments fall 10% year-over-year (but not the iPhone)

European smartphone shipments fell 10% year on year in quarter one of 2022, coming in at 41.7 million units, according to Canalys. However, Apple’s iPhone sale inched up 1% during the period, notes the research group.

Samsung kicked off 2022 in first place, with a 35% market share as supply started to recover for its low- and mid-range models. Apple came second, driven by strong iPhone 13 demand. Xiaomi took third place, thanks to its new Redmi Note 11 series, while realme and OPPO completed the top five, achieving 5% and 4% market shares.

Apple sold 8.9 million iPhones in quarter one of 2022. That’s up from 8.8 million in quarter one of 2021. Apple, the only company in the top five European smartphone manufactures, now has 21% of the market share in the region.

“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,” says Canalys Research Analyst Runar Bjørhovde. “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.”