Apple wins and loses in global smartphone biz, says Gartner

Data from Gartner

Apple sold more iPhones than it did this time last year but still narrowly became the third place smartphone vendor, according to fresh Gartner data.

The data shows that overall global smartphone sales climbed 10.8% yoy to reach 328m in Q221. Samsung took 17.6% of the market, followed by Xiaomi with 15.5% and Apple a close third with 15%. Oppo (10.2%) and Vivo (9.8%) complete the top five, with “others” shifting 31.9% of the smartphone market.

Digging into Apple

Apple sold 49,258,200 iPhones in the second quarter of the year, up from 38,386,100 this time last year. For context, Samsung sold over 57 million smartphones while Xiaomi sold just over 51 million.

One recent survey suggests Apple’s record-setting iPhone 12 sales may continue when the company ships iPhone 13, with an almost 3% increase in purchase intent for newer iPhone models compared to last year.

Apple sales grew 28.3% and its market share increased 2.1% year over year. “While demand for iPhone 12 series smartphones remained strong in the key 5G driven markets, aggressive sales promotion for iPhone 11 series smartphones added to its growth in the price-sensitive segment,” said Gupta.

With the iPhone 13 preparing to boost the global smartphone market, the analyst notes that, “Demand for smartphones continued to be strong in this quarter as buyers preferred higher specifications and better user experience. The pent-up demand from 2020 continues to drive advantage for global smartphone vendors in 2021.”

The news comes as one recent survey suggests Apple will shift tens of millions of iPhones to Android switchers and further speculation concerning the next model device continues to leak.

On manufacturing

“Reinforced shelter-in-place instructions and factory shut-downs in India and Vietnam due to the second wave of COVID-19, along with closure of retail businesses and restrictions on online deliveries affected smartphone sales negatively in the second quarter after a strong start in beginning of 2021,” said Anshul Gupta, senior research director at Gartner. “However, regions with higher penetration of 5G connectivity saw strong demand for 5G smartphones and were growth drivers for leading smartphone vendors.”

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