IT Home January 18 news, according to MacRumors reported that Canalys released the latest report, in the fourth quarter of 2021, Apple's iPhone accounted for about one-fifth of all global smartphone shipments, making Apple the largest smartphone supplier again.
Canalys estimates that in the fourth quarter of 2021, iPhones accounted for 22% of global smartphone shipments. The size of Apple's shipments was driven by strong demand for the iPhone 13 series, which launched last September. Canalys analyst Sanyam Chaurasia said:
"Driven by the outstanding performance of the iPhone 13 series, Apple is back at the top of the smartphone market after three quarters. Apple saw unprecedented iPhone purchasing power performance in Chinese mainland, with aggressive pricing of its flagship devices keeping its value proposition strong. Apple's supply chain began to recover, but in the fourth quarter, it was still forced to cut production due to shortages of key components, unable to produce enough iPhones to meet demand. In priority markets, it maintains sufficient lead times, but in some markets, its customers have to wait to get the latest iPhones. ”
Apple took back the number one spot from Samsung, which dominated top smartphone vendors last quarter. Shipments of Samsung phones are slightly inferior to Apple's, with a market share of 20%. Xiaomi retained its third-place position with a 12% share of shipments.
IT Home learned that global overall smartphone shipments increased by only 1% due to supply chain issues, but supply chain disruptions mainly affected low-end suppliers, rather than giants such as Apple. Canalys also noted that it may take several years for component manufacturers to fully ramp up capacity to meet demand. Industry bottlenecks are not expected to ease until the second half of 2022.