NEEDHAM, MA – The pace of recovery for the smartphone market accelerated in the first quarter, with 25.5% year-over-year shipment growth, according to International Data Corp. Smartphone vendors shipped nearly 346 million devices during the quarter.
Strong growth came from all regions, with the greatest gains coming from China and Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan and China). As the two largest regions globally, accounting for half of all global shipments, these regions experienced 30% and 28% year-over-year growth, respectively.
"The recovery is proceeding faster than we expected, clearly demonstrating a healthy appetite for smartphones globally. But amidst this phenomenal growth, we must remember we are comparing against one of the worst quarters in smartphone history, first quarter 2020, the start of the pandemic when the bulk of the supply chain was at a halt, and China was in full lockdown," said Nabila Popal, research director with IDC's Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers. "However, the growth is still very real. Compared to two years ago, shipments are 11% higher. The growth is coming from years of repressed refresh cycles with a boost from 5G. But above all, it is a clear illustration of how smartphones are becoming an increasingly important element of our everyday life – a trend that is expected to continue as we head into a post-pandemic world, with many consumers carrying forward the new smartphone use cases that emerged from the pandemic."
Huawei is out of the top five for the first time in many years, after suffering heavy declines under the increased weight of US sanctions, says IDC. Taking advantage of this are the Chinese vendors Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo, which all grew share over last quarter, landing them in 3rd, 4th, and 5th places globally during the quarter with 14.1%, 10.8%, and 10.1% share, respectively. All three vendors are increasing their focus in international markets, where Huawei had grown its share in recent years.
In the low- to mid-priced segment, it is these vendors that are gaining the most from Huawei's decline, while most of the high-end share is going to Apple and Samsung. Samsung regained the top spot in the first quarter, with impressive shipments of 75.3 million and 21.8% share. The new S21 series did well for Samsung, mainly thanks to a successful pricing strategy, shaving off $200 from last year's flagship launch. Apple, with continued success of its iPhone 12 series, lost some share from their strong holiday quarter but still shipped an impressive 55.2 million iPhones, grabbing 16% share.
"While Huawei continues its decline in the smartphone market, we’ve also learned that LG is exiting the market altogether," said Ryan Reith, program vice president with IDC's Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers. "Most of LG's volume was in the Americas, with North America accounting for over 50% of its volume and Latin America another 30%. Despite the vendor losing ground in recent years, they still had 9% of the North America market and 6% of Latin America. Their exit creates some immediate opportunity for other brands. With competition being more cutthroat than ever, especially at the low end, it is safe to assume 6-10 brands are eyeing this share opportunity."
