Samsung beats Apple, ships 272 million smartphones in 2021 globally

Samsung led the global smartphone shipment in 2021 by shipping a whopping 272 million smartphones globally. The company’s overall market share increased by 6% compared to 2020 wherein it had shipped a total of 256.6 million smartphones. Samsung captured a 20.1% of the market share in the past year, IDC noted in its recent report. Slightly different numbers shared by Counterpoint Research show that Samsung shipped 271 million units in 2021 despite supply-side issues starting with its Vietnam factory being shut in June due to COVID-induced lockdown.

Apple stood second by shipping 235.7 million smartphones in 2021, which marks an increase of 15.9% from the 203.4 million smartphones in 2020, the IDC report added. On the other hand, numbers shared by Counterpoint Research show that the iPhone maker shipped 237.9 million units in 2021 owing to strong performance by 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, consequently overtaking Samsung as the top smartphone globally in Q4 2021,” the report added.

Xiaomi stood third by shipping 191 million and capturing 14.1% of the market share in 2021. Counterpoint research says that the company shipped 190 million smartphones in 2021 and that the bulk of this growth was in the first half of the year, driven by regions such as India, China, South-East Asia and Europe. Similarly, Oppo and Vivo captured the fourth and fifth spots in the IDC’s list by shipping 135.5 million and 128.3 million smartphones in 2021.

Furthermore, the IDC report says that smartphone vendors shipped a total of 362.4 million phones during the final quarter of 2021, which was down 3.2% year over year. Overall, the smartphone market grew 5.7% in 2021 with 1.35 billion smartphones shipped globally.

“We expect to see supply and logistical challenges continue through the first half of this year, but we currently believe we’ll return to growth in the second quarter and second half of 2022,” said Ryan Reith, group vice president with IDC.

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