The performance of smartphones as a product is generally quite strong around the world, but the coronavirus pandemic brought with it a fair amount of economic turmoil and hardship. Because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up making people less money in general, smartphone sales declined in 2020. Many feared that the weak previous quarter meant that a resurgence was not yet underway.
However, the industry has seen a strong comeback, with the latest market report from Counterpoint Research indicating that there has been a year on year market increase of around 20% despite the 10% quarter on quarter decrease. The first quarter of 2021 saw the sale of just under 355 million units, and there has also been a bit of a reshuffling of who the major players in this industry might be.
One example of this can be seen with Apple being supplanted by Samsung in terms of total shipment share. This can partly be attributed to a decline in shipments in both North America as well as Europe, two markets that Apple has generally tended to rely on quite a bit. Samsung’s growth in this regard has been facilitated by a massive increase in shipments in Europe, something that has resulted in Samsung becoming the largest OEM in the world right now which indicates just how trouble Apple might be by its future prospects.
Samsung currently has a 22% share of global smartphone shipments which is a lot more than Apple’s 17%, and the other entries on this list indicate that East Asia is becoming the biggest region for OEMs to establish themselves in. Apple is closely followed by Xiaomi with 14%, Oppo at 11%, Vivo at 10% and Huawei at 4%. This means that about 39% of global smartphone shipments are being controlled by Chinese companies, something that really shows the strength of the sector in this part of the world.
Apple pretty much only leads in market share in North America where it continues to maintain a very healthy 55% share of the market. Samsung only manages to get 28% of the North American market share, but it is the market leader in Europe, LATAM and MEA regions with 37%, 42% and 26% respectively.
Asia finds both Samsung and Apple underperforming with 12% market share apiece, but it should be noted that even the highest market share is 18% which is controlled by Vivo. Hence, this region clearly has a lot of small players instead of any major monopolies, and it should also be noted that this is the only region apart from North America in which Apple has a meaningful stronghold.
One thing that many found rather surprising in this report was that India saw its second quarter on quarter decrease in this sector. This might indicate a slowdown of the Indian economy which makes sense since the country has been arguably the worst afflicted by the coronavirus, and if current affairs are any indication this downward trend is likely to continue well into 2021 which could impact the growth of companies that depend on this region as their main source of profitability. Since Asia is the only other region where Apple has a decent market share, this could make the company’s fortunes plummet further.
Read next: Survey Reveals Majority of Users Don’t Want to Share Personal Data
However, the industry has seen a strong comeback, with the latest market report from Counterpoint Research indicating that there has been a year on year market increase of around 20% despite the 10% quarter on quarter decrease. The first quarter of 2021 saw the sale of just under 355 million units, and there has also been a bit of a reshuffling of who the major players in this industry might be.
One example of this can be seen with Apple being supplanted by Samsung in terms of total shipment share. This can partly be attributed to a decline in shipments in both North America as well as Europe, two markets that Apple has generally tended to rely on quite a bit. Samsung’s growth in this regard has been facilitated by a massive increase in shipments in Europe, something that has resulted in Samsung becoming the largest OEM in the world right now which indicates just how trouble Apple might be by its future prospects.
Samsung currently has a 22% share of global smartphone shipments which is a lot more than Apple’s 17%, and the other entries on this list indicate that East Asia is becoming the biggest region for OEMs to establish themselves in. Apple is closely followed by Xiaomi with 14%, Oppo at 11%, Vivo at 10% and Huawei at 4%. This means that about 39% of global smartphone shipments are being controlled by Chinese companies, something that really shows the strength of the sector in this part of the world.
Apple pretty much only leads in market share in North America where it continues to maintain a very healthy 55% share of the market. Samsung only manages to get 28% of the North American market share, but it is the market leader in Europe, LATAM and MEA regions with 37%, 42% and 26% respectively.
Asia finds both Samsung and Apple underperforming with 12% market share apiece, but it should be noted that even the highest market share is 18% which is controlled by Vivo. Hence, this region clearly has a lot of small players instead of any major monopolies, and it should also be noted that this is the only region apart from North America in which Apple has a meaningful stronghold.
One thing that many found rather surprising in this report was that India saw its second quarter on quarter decrease in this sector. This might indicate a slowdown of the Indian economy which makes sense since the country has been arguably the worst afflicted by the coronavirus, and if current affairs are any indication this downward trend is likely to continue well into 2021 which could impact the growth of companies that depend on this region as their main source of profitability. Since Asia is the only other region where Apple has a decent market share, this could make the company’s fortunes plummet further.
Read next: Survey Reveals Majority of Users Don’t Want to Share Personal Data