The pandemic continues around the world and still affects the technology sector. However, the chip crisis that impacted the industry is continuing its recovery. This was the conclusion made by International Data Corporation (IDC) after analyzing the smartphone market for all of 2021 and the 4th quarter of last year.
In the last quarter of 2021, 362.4 million units were sold worldwide in comparison to the 374.3 million a year earlier. Leading the list was Apple, with 23.4% of the mobile device market. In numbers that is 84.9 million iPhones sold. In second place was Samsung, with 68.9 million smartphones in the fourth quarter and accounted for 19%.
In the third was Xiaomi with 45 million smartphones and a market share of 12.4%. Oppo and Vivo managed to break into the top 5, and their share is at 8.3% and 7.8%, respectively.
According to the reports for the whole of 2021, smartphone sales increased by 5.7%. In total, 1.35 billion units against 1.28 billion in 2020. Samsung kept being the largest manufacturer with a share of 20.1% and 272 million units sold. The second was Apple with a score of 17.4% and 235.7 units sold, the third place went to Xiaomi – 14.1%, which grew more actively than other companies with an increase of 29.3%.
2021 SMARTPHONE MARKET
All manufacturers in 2021 failed to meet expectations; with volumes declining 4.5% compared to the second half of 2020 due to component shortages as they entered the second half of the year, and this continues to be the case now entering 2022. The logistical challenges will continue through but the manufacturers believe they’ll return to growth in the second quarter and second half of 2022. There is big demand going on in many markets, and to some extent, there is an increase in consumer interest in 5G and foldable devices.
