Strategy Analytics predicts global smartphone shipments will increase +7% YoY in 2021 and return to the pre-pandemic levels in 2022. Growth is driven jointly by the economic recovery under eased pandemic situation, the new tech migration towards 5G, as well as the availability of more affordable 4G and 5G devices. We predict all regions will grow in 2021, benefiting from the eased COVID-19 situation. However component shortages will limit upside growth potential.

We expect Samsung will maintain the leading position in global smartphone market in 2021 and 2022, followed by Apple. Xiaomi, vivo, and OPPO will post strong growth, benefitting from Huawei’s lost share in mass markets. These top five vendors combined will capture 70% volume share, up from 64% in 2020.

Our latest report Global Smartphone Shipments Forecast by Vendor by Region by Quarter was just published. The excel file can be downloaded via this link, while the pdf analysis report can be downloaded via this link.