Global smartphone shipments declined by 7% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) in the second quarter of 2021, according to the latest research from Counterpoint’s Market Monitor service. This was primarily due to ongoing component shortages as well as the implementation or extension of COVID-19 restrictions across Asia and Europe. Shipments, however, grew by 19% YoY as inoculation rates increased in several major economies preventing the need for lockdowns as stringent as those seen in the same quarter of last year.
Commenting on OEM rankings, Research Director, Tarun Pathak noted: “While Samsung retained the top spot, its market share fell by over 3% to 18% in the second quarter of 2021. Shipments were down due to weak seasonal demand in some of its key regions such as India, Central and Latin America and Southeast Asia followed by production disruption in Vietnam due to COVID-19. Xiaomi had its best-ever quarter as it was able to increase its market share in China, Southeast Asia and Europe. While Apple fell to the third spot, it captured record second-quarter shipments thanks to persistent demand and supply for its iPhone 12 series. OPPO and vivo retained their spots in the top five as OPPO continued expanding to overseas markets and vivo managed to lead the China market for the second quarter in a row.”
Highlighting the revenue dynamics, Research Analyst, Aman Chaudhary noted: “Global smartphone wholesale shipment revenues eclipsed $96 billion, up by 25% YoY but declined by 16% sequentially. This comes at a time when the industry was facing supply constraints. Apple captured a record second-quarter revenue share of 41% driven by continuing demand for the iPhone 12 Series followed by Samsung, OPPO, Xiaomi and vivo. However, Xiaomi had a strong quarter in terms of revenue as well, becoming the only brand within the top five to grow its revenue sequentially. It captured its highest-ever revenue share of over 9% driven by the strong performance of Redmi Note and the Mi 11 series.”
Commenting on Xiaomi’s record shipments, Senior Analyst, Harmeet Singh Walia noted: “Xiaomi crossed 50 million shipments for the first time ever driven by a combination of premium and low-to-mid price segment devices. Xiaomi’s exceptional performance comes despite a decline in India due to the spread of new COVID-19 variants. The increased shipments can be attributed to its growth in regions including Europe, Southeast Asia and Central and Latin America where it captured market share vacated by Samsung and Huawei. Southeast Asia and Europe were bright spots for Xiaomi as demand for mid-tier devices increased during the quarter.”
Key Takeaways:
- Samsung’s quarterly shipments declined by 24% QoQ and grew by a meagre 7% YoY reaching 57.9 million units in the second quarter of 2021 due to supply constraints. Samsung’s revenue fell by 30% QoQ despite increasing by 7% YoY in the second quarter of 2021. Samsung is diversifying its product mix and channel strategy in regions such as India, Europe and Central and Latin America. Samsung has also shifted focus towards premium devices over the mid-range series on the supply side in regions such as the US where supply constraints and low inventory limited its growth.
- Xiaomi recorded a QoQ shipment growth of 8% while its shipments grew by a staggering 98% YoY driven by the strong demand for Redmi 9, Note 9 and Note 10 series. Demand for its premium Mi 11 series remained strong as well. The mix of premium and lower-to-mid segment devices enabled Xiaomi to achieve its highest-ever smartphone revenue in the second quarter of 2021.
- Apple’s smartphone shipments fell by 18% QoQ but grew by 30% YoY to reach 48.9 million units in the second quarter of 2021. This is because demand for iPhone 12 series remained high while its supply was not hit as severely by chip shortages because of its strong industry relationships, careful supply chain management, expedited shipping, and ability to cut days from factory to point-of-sale. Apple saw its revenue increase by 52% YoY.
- OPPO’s shipments declined by 12% QoQ to 33.6 million units in the second quarter of 2021. Its market share declined to 10% compared with last quarter’s 11%. However, driven by its global expansion and steady performance in China, it saw a growth of 37% compared with the same quarter last year when it enjoyed 9% market share. Following the shipment trends, OPPO’s YoY revenue also declined by 10% QoQ while increasing by over 50% YoY.
- vivo‘s shipments declined by 8% QoQ but grew by 44% YoY to reach 32.5 million units in the second quarter of 2021. vivo’s growth was driven by a strong performance in the China market, where it has retained the leadership position for a second consecutive quarter. vivo saw a quarterly decline in revenues of 10%, in line with the decline in its shipments over the same period. However, it saw YoY revenue growth of 69% driven by solid performances of its mid-tier models such as S9, Y52s and Y31.
- Among other major OEMs, OnePlus, realme, and Lenovo grew the fastest. OnePlus grew by 170% YoY in the second quarter of 2021 with its Nord N series doing particularly well in the North America and Western Europe markets. realme grew by 135% YoY in the second quarter of 2021 as a result of its continuing success in China as well as its expansion in Southeast Asia where its C-series, launched in March this year, did exceptionally well. realme also reached the landmark of hitting 100 million in cumulative shipments since launch. Apart from this, it also reached 50 million units in cumulative shipments in India during the quarter, the fastest by any brand so far in India. Lenovo Group grew by 110% thanks to the success of its Moto E7 Plus in Latin America and Moto G Play 2021 in North America.
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