New Zealand's smartphone market grew by 0.9% in 2022, after 3 years of sequential decline

New Zealand's smartphone market made a marginal climb of 0.9% year-on-year (YoY) in 2022 to reach 1.47 million units, bucking the trend of decline that has occurred annually since 2019.

The market remains dominated by international players like Samsung which remained the market leader in the region with a 43.1% share, although shipments fell 3.4% YoY from 654,000 to 632,000 in the year. This is a result of a significant shipment decline in Q4 which saw their market position dip to second place in the quarter.

Apple shipments grew 7.4% YoY following a successful iPhone 14 series launch in the fourth quarter that saw shipments grow 4.1% quarter-on-quarter.

Meanwhile, OPPO remained the top Chinese smartphone brand in New Zealand and third place overall with an 8.7% market share. Vodafone shipments declined 13.2% YoY, and market share decreased from 5.6% to 4.9%.

Although TCL's footprint in the market remains relatively small with on 2.7% share, it saw the biggest year-on-year growth, as shipments grew about 36% in the year

Despite the growth in the year, IDC analyst expects the overall smartphone market in New Zealand to fall by 5.4% YoY in 2023 due to waning consumer confidence and high inflation in the region. The fear of recession has resulted in a more cautious outlook.