The latest research has revealed that the global smartphone market witnessed growth for the first time since the year 2017 as it reached the shipment of 1.39 billion units in 2021. The report was shared by Counterpoint Research which also informed that the global shipment of the smartphone increased by 4% year-on-year basis; however, it also had a decline on a yearly basis in the fourth quarter resulting in the shipment of 371 million units.
The Market Share
According to the Counterpoint Research firm, even though there was a 4% surge annually in the global shipment of smartphones, the shipment number still remained lower than that of pre-pandemic levels. The reason behind this can be credited to the impacts of Covid-19 along with the issue of component shortage. Talking about the smartphone manufacturers, South Korea based tech giant Samsung witnessed a 6% rise in the shipment figures and led the market by shipping 271 million units. The manufacturer saw significant growth on the back of the increased demand for its A and M series smartphones. The Cupertino-based smartphone manufacturer Apple had remarkable growth as well. The shipment figures of the company grew 18% year-on-year to reach 237.6 million units. Apple’s iPhone 12 was one of the best performing smartphones in terms of sales, and the company also witnessed significant growth in the countries of Europe, the US, China and India. Next on the list is the Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi which grew 31% year-on-year to reach 190 million units. The main regions of growth for the company remained India, China, South-East Asia and Europe. Oppo followed suit as it witnessed a 28% year-on-year growth reaching 143.2 million units shipped. For the first half of the year, the brand performed remarkably in China, whereas for the latter half, it saw a boom in the regions of Europe, the Middle East, South-East Asia and Africa. Vivo as well grew 21% year-on-year reaching 131.3 million units shipped in 2021; however, in the fourth quarter, the shipment numbers declined by 9% as the company’s market share was taken over by Apple in China. Huawei and LG, on the other hand, witnessed an exit from the list of the top smartphone manufacturers.
