Accounting for 22 percent of worldwide smartphone shipments, Apple garnered the top spot in the global smartphone market during the fourth quarter of 2021, according to a Canalys report.
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This way, the iPhone maker could manage to beat Samsung for the top spot as it has secured strong sales despite supply chain issues.
Besides Apple, Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo are the other smartphone brands that have managed to maintain their position on the list.
In the case of Apple, the strong sales were mostly driven by the new iPhone 13 series.
Interestingly, Apple didn’t expect that this new launch would interest customers after the company delayed the sales of the devices.
Unprecedented iPhone Performance
According to the report, “Apple saw unprecedented iPhone performance in Mainland China, with aggressive pricing for its flagship devices keeping the value proposition strong,”.
Apple’s supply chain was affected after it decided to cut production due to shortages of key components, as per the sources.
Although, the smartphone giant has now started to recover, the report states.
Earlier, Apple had cut iPhone 13 production plans by 10 million units, due to the global chip shortage, as per a Bloomberg report.
Although, the company is expecting supplies to improve in 2022.
Other Players In Smartphone Market
Apart from Apple, Samsung is the only company that witnessed growth in comparison to Q4 2020.
So far, Samsung is accounted for 20 percent of worldwide smartphone shipments, which is up by 17 percent in 2020.
On the other hand, Apple had a 23 percent market share, which in reality is decreased by one percent in 2021.
At the same time, Xiaomi managed to maintain its spot and market share in 2021, the report said.
Acquiring 12 percent of the smartphone market share worldwide, the Chinese company garnered the third spot in the list.
Further, the report mentions that Oppo and Vivo took fourth and fifth place with 9 percent and 8 percent respectively.
Smartphone Industry Affected By Global Semiconductor Shortage
The report confirms that the global semiconductor shortage issue has affected other phone makers too rather than just Apple.
This issue will not get resolved at least until the second half of 2022.
So the OEMs might continue to face difficulties posed by the component shortage, Canalys reported.
In response, several brands have started tweaking device specs according to the available materials, the report says.
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