Xiaomi is rapidly catching up with Apple in the smartphone market

Research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) has released data on global smartphone shipments for the first quarter of 2021. It reported a 25.5% increase in shipments over last year and new records for key industry representatives.

 

According to the data received, 346 million smartphones were shipped in the first quarter of this year. The largest growth occurred in China and the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Japan) – by 28% and 30%, respectively, on an annualized basis.

 

For the first time in many years, HUAWEI dropped out of the top five, as a result of sanctions from the US government. Samsung took the first place with a market share of 21.8% and an increase in shipments by 28.8% compared to the first quarter of 2020. Apple grabbed 16% of the market with a growth of 50.4% thanks to the success of the iPhone 12 series. Xiaomi is close to it with a share of 14.1% and an increase of 64.8%.

 

The fourth and fifth places are occupied by OPPO and vivo with a share of 10.8% and 10.1%, respectively. The deliveries of the former increased by 64.5%, and  the latter by 40.7%. According to IDC, the three Chinese companies have essentially split HUAWEI’s stake among themselves. Basically, they are increasing their shipments at the expense of entry-level and mid-range models, while sales of flagships were pulled by Samsung and Apple.