Shipments declined 18.3 percent year-over-year, making for the largest-ever decline in a single quarter and dragging the year down to an 11.3 percent decline. With overall shipments of 1.21 billion phones for the year, the IDC says this is the lowest annual shipment total since 2013.

Apple is still the market leader saw its sales fall by 14.9 per cent for Q4 2022. Samsung was down 15.6 per cent.  The worst was  Xiaomi which fell by 26.5 per cent

Samsung was the most successful company in the year with a 21.6 percent market share, Apple was a number two with 18.8 percent, and Xiaomi took third place at 12.7 percent.

IDC said that consumers are keeping smartphones longer than ever now, with "refresh rates" or the time that passes before people buy a new phone 'climb[ing] past 40 months in most major markets.'