With the reports of major market research institutes freshly released, it is time to take stock of the smartphone industry in 2021.
Looking back at the development of the global smartphone industry in the past year, it can be said that the environment is complex, the competition is fierce, and the pattern is delicate. After another year of big waves, how has the market pattern and technology trends changed?
Look at the pattern: Huawei faded out of the TOP5, Samsung, Apple continues to dominate
According to the report data released by market research institute IDC, in the whole year of 2021, the global smartphone market shipments reached 1.3548 million units, an increase of 5.7% year-on-year.
In the whole year of 2021, the top five manufacturers in the global smartphone market shipments are: Samsung, Apple, Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo.
Samsung shipped 272 million units in the global smartphone market in 2021, an increase of 6.0% year-on-year, and its market share of 20.1% continued to remain the first.
Apple shipped 235.7 million units in the global smartphone market in 2021, an increase of 15.9% year-on-year, and ranked second with a market share of 17.4%.
Xiaomi shipped 191 million units in the global smartphone market in 2021, an increase of 29.3% year-on-year, and ranked third with a market share of 14.1%.
OPPO shipped 133.5 million units in the global smartphone market in 2021, an increase of 20.1% year-on-year, and ranked fourth with a market share of 9.9%.
Vivo shipped 128.3 million units in the global smartphone market in 2021, an increase of 14.8% year-on-year, and ranked fifth with a market share of 9.5%.
From the perspective of the global market pattern in 2021, after huawei, which has been continuously suppressed by the United States, faded out of the TOP5 (Huawei mobile phones have global shipments of 189 million units in 2020, ranking third with a market share of 14.6%), foreign brands will continue to dominate the top two positions in the global market in 2021, although the hot sales of the iPhone 13 have made Apple soar all the way, but in the end Samsung still defended its title successfully. There are three Chinese manufacturers in the new TOP5, Xiaomi and OV, but whether it is volume or revenue, there is still a visible gap between domestic mobile phone brands and Samsung and Apple.
The pattern of the domestic market has also changed. According to IDC data, the Chinese smartphone market shipped about 329 million units in 2021, an increase of 1.1% year-on-year. The top five manufacturers in China's smartphone market shipments in 2021 are: vivo, OPPO, xiaomi, Apple, and honor.
In the Chinese market, although domestic mobile phone brands occupy four seats, but the iPhone in the Chinese market shipments in 2021 since 2015 again exceeded 50 million units, the annual year-on-year growth rate of nearly 40% Apple became the fastest growing manufacturer in the top five in the Chinese market, considering Huawei's fading out, speculation That Apple's large increase is likely to grab the high-end market left by Huawei, it can be said that Apple made a lot of money in the Chinese market in 2021. Interestingly, the Honor 2021 annual shipment ranking, which has been officially independent for more than a year after Huawei's spin-off, has entered the top five in the Chinese market, and the replenishment has been successful.
Look at the trend: 5G prevails, folding screen into the biggest highlight
From the perspective of development trends, 5G mobile phones have become the absolute dominant market. Taking China as an example, the analysis report released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology shows that in 2021, the overall shipment of mobile phones in the Chinese market totaled 351 million units, an increase of 13.9% year-on-year; of which 5G mobile phone shipments were 266 million units, an increase of 63.5% year-on-year, accounting for 75.9% of mobile phone shipments in the same period.
But from the perspective of innovation, the current technological innovation of the entire smartphone industry seems to be close to the ceiling. In the past year, whether it is communication capabilities, performance, imaging and other aspects have not seen too many subversive innovations, the major mainstream players in the hardware competition without obvious advantages, have begun to work in the software and operating system and other fields, but there is not much amazing performance.
Although the speed of innovation has slowed down, there are also some highlights, among which the folding screen product performance is particularly prominent, becoming the biggest highlight. IDC data shows that the scale of folding screen mobile phone products in the Chinese market in 2021 will be about 1.5 million units. Folding screen products account for about 0.5% of the domestic smart machine market in 2021, which is still a niche product form, but with the recent centralized release of new products from many head manufacturers, the market heat of folding screen products has once again been pushed to the peak.
At present, in addition to Apple, almost all mainstream manufacturers have launched folding screen products. For example, shipments of the third-generation folding screen phones Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3 released by Samsung in 2021 have reached Samsung's expectations; Huawei released a new folding screen flagship Mate X2 in 2021 and the first folding screen P50 Pocket in the P series; Xiaomi released its first folding screen mobile phone, the Xiaomi MIX FOLD; OPPO released its first folding screen smartphone, OPPO Find N Although there is no first action in 2021, at the beginning of the new year in 2022, Honor also released its first folding screen mobile phone Honor Magic V, and tried to lead the folding screen mobile phone into the era of the main model.
Although as a niche market, the overall scale of folding screens is still not large, but with the gradual maturity and improvement of supply chain technologies such as hinges, as well as the price of some hot-selling products, the folding screen market is still expected to maintain rapid growth and become the focus of competition among mainstream players.
Looking to the future: High-end battlefields expect variables
With domestic mobile phone manufacturers having already experienced price wars, hardware stacking and other extensive development stages, almost all domestic mobile phone brands are now well aware of the importance of user experience, especially the importance of expanding the more profitable high-end market.
In the past 2021, the head of domestic mobile phone manufacturers in the high-end market collective force, and strive to explore the high-end price market controlled by Samsung and Apple, the process is full of challenges, but also gained a certain market and more experience.
However, from the perspective of the high-end market pattern at this stage, if Huawei's chip supply problems still cannot be significantly improved, the market continues to be absent, and if other domestic mobile phone manufacturers still fail to pick up the high-end beam in time, the future global high-end mobile phone market may return to the situation of Apple and Samsung domination; and in the domestic high-end market, Apple's monopoly situation may continue.
So, how do domestic mobile phones break through the high-end territory of Apple and Samsung? A research report released by market research firm Strategy Analytics predicts that global shipments of foldable smartphones will grow from less than 1 million in 2019 to 100 million in 2025, and foldable phones will become the fastest growing segment of the high-end smartphone market in the next decade.
Of course, the core competitiveness of creating a high-end market is not only as simple as the "pattern" of product form transformation such as folding screens, but also includes comprehensive hardware capabilities, software and operating systems, ecological construction, channel construction, brand building, service and other all-round competition. The competition in the future high-end battlefield is bound to be more intense, it is expected that in 2022, domestic brands will increase investment, continue to challenge the high-end market, establish a future high-end brand image, and will also carry out more active exploration in the high-end market, and strive to get out of the differentiated route different from foreign giants such as Apple, accelerate the technological innovation of mobile phone manufacturers, and end users are expected to get a better experience.
Looking forward to the future, under the new market pattern, how can major mobile phone manufacturers cope with new variables and seize new opportunities? Let's wait and see! C114 Communication Network Andy