Strategy Analytics specialists summed up the results of the smartphone market for 2021 and its fourth quarter in particular. The first interesting fact of the report was that despite all the talk about the semiconductor crisis, smartphone shipments increased by 5% compared to 2020 and amounted to an incredible 1.36 billion units. Roughly speaking, almost one in six people on the planet bought a new smartphone in 2021. The largest contributor to this figure was Samsung with its 272 million units sold (+7% YoY). Apple (228.4 million, + 11.1% per year) and Xiaomi (190.3 million, + 30.6% per year) overtake it with enviable speed.

However, the real market leader, as we said last spring, is the BBK conglomerate, whose sub-brands showed an impressive increase over the year: OPPO (including OnePlus) added +22.7%, and Vivo +17%. This is already enough to be considered the king of the global smartphone market, however, BBK also has Realme and iQOO in stock, not listed in the report.

As for the quarterly results, Apple’s slight drop in sales (-2%) looks curious, even despite the holiday period and the most active sales of the iPhone 13 family. At the same time, Samsung noticeably strengthened its position, but OPPO and Vivo, which seized the initiative at home, in China , on a global scale, suffer a serious drop: -11.4% and -17.3%, respectively. Summing up, the senior director of Strategy Analytics predicted a 3% increase in smartphone shipments in 2022.

© Vladimir Kovalev. mobile phone

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