Cupertino-based tech giant Apple has once again managed to reclaim its number one position in the global smartphone market by overtaking Samsung in the fourth quarter of 2021. The report comes in from the market research firm Canalys which informs that Apple has managed to make 22% of the global shipments of smartphones in the quarter. The rise has can be credited to the huge demand for the company’s iPhone 13 Series which has finally brought Apple on the top after three quarters.
Apple’s Growth and the Global Market Share
Sanyam Chaurasia who is an analyst for Canalys said in a statement that Apple witnessed an exceptional performance of its iPhone in China and was able to keep the value proposition strong with the hard-hitting prices of its flagship iPhone devices. He further informed that even though the supply chain of the company is on the path of recovery, it still had to restrict its production in the fourth quarter due to a shortage of major components. This resulted in Apple not being able to manufacture enough iPhones as it was required to meet the demand.
Apple’s 22% share of the market was followed by the South Korean tech giant Samsung which managed to have 20% of the market share in terms of shipment of smartphones globally. While Samsung slipped to the second position, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi was able to retain its third position with 12% of the market share. Xiaomi was followed by two other Chinese smartphone manufacturers – Oppo and Vivo which managed to end up in fourth and fifth position with 9% and 8% of total global market share respectively.
The report from Canalys also informed that the overall shipment of the smartphones globally grew only by 1% as most of the manufacturers had to deal with supply chain issues because of the rising cases of Covid-19. According to the VP Mobility of Canalys Nicole Peng, the low-end vendors were majorly affected by the disturbances in the supply chain. Furthermore, Peng said that the problem of component shortage will pertain at least until the second half of 2022.
