The downturn in consumer spending brought on by rising prices and interest rates, as well as geopolitical concerns last year, has particularly hurt mobile device manufacturers.
The largest smartphone manufacturer in the world, Samsung Electronics Co., anticipates a decline in the smartphone market in 2023.
Even after the economic difficulties and underwhelming sales of 2022, the Suwon, South Korea-based Galaxy gadget manufacturer stated on Tuesday that it expects the demand for mobile devices to decline in the current year. In announcing its worst earnings decline in more than a decade on Tuesday, the corporation said that “the business climate worsened dramatically” in the final three months of the year.
The consumer spending slump brought on by rising prices and interest rates, as well as geopolitical concerns last year, has particularly hurt mobile device manufacturers. China’s progressive reopening following the country’s relaxation of its rigorous Covid Zero policy and unwinding of some of the pressure on its local internet enterprises has helped to fuel hopes for a recovery in 2023. China is the largest smartphone market in the world, and while it is unlikely that it will see the double-digit declines in shipments and sales it did in 2022, Samsung’s projection would indicate that this won’t be enough to bring the mobile company back to growth in the near future.
In a conference call held after the company’s fourth-quarter earnings, Samsung vice president Daniel Araujo stated, “We expect the smartphone market to contract in 2023 amid prolonging geopolitical issues, continued inflation, and the continued economic slowdown, with the mass market, impacted the most.”
