Samsung led the global smartphone shipments in 2021 by shipping 272 million smartphones globally. The company’s overall market share grew by 6% compared to 2020, in which it shipped a total of 256.6 million smartphones. IDC mentioned in its recent report that Samsung has captured 20.1% of the market share in the last one year. Slightly different numbers shared by Counterpoint Research show that Samsung delivered 271 million units in 2021, despite supply-side issues leading to a Vietnam factory shutdown in June due to the COVID-induced lockdown.
The IDC report said that Apple ranked second by shipping 235.7 million smartphones in 2021, showing a growth of 15.9% from 203.4 million smartphones in 2020. On the other hand, the numbers shared by Counterpoint Research show that the iPhone maker sold 237.9 million units in 2021 due to the strong performance of the iPhone 12 series. “Apple also grew in key markets such as the US, China, Europe and India. In China, it became the top smartphone brand in Q4 after six years thanks to the iPhone 13, resulting in overtaking Samsung as the top smartphone globally in Q4 2021,” the report said.
Xiaomi ranked third by shipping 191 million and capturing 14.1% of the market share in 2021. Counterpoint Research says the company shipped 190 million smartphones in 2021 and the bulk of this growth was in the first half of the year, driven by such segments. Such as India, China, South-East Asia and Europe. Similarly, Oppo and Vivo grabbed the fourth and fifth positions on IDC’s list by shipping 135.5 million and 128.3 million smartphones in 2021.
Furthermore, the IDC report said smartphone vendors shipped a total of 362.4 million phones during the last quarter of 2021, down 3.2% year over year. Overall, the smartphone market grew by 5.7% in 2021, with 1.35 billion smartphones shipped globally.
“We expect supply and logistics challenges to continue in the first half of this year, but we are currently confident that we will return to growth in the second quarter and second half of 2022,” said Ryan Reith, Group Vice President, IDC.
Samsung overtook Apple to first introduce 272 million smartphones globally in 2021 BGR India.
