Q3'21 smartphone shipments revert to a decline ahead of the holiday quarter

Third quarter global smartphone shipments slipped by 7.1% year over year on an estimated 324.8 million units amid supply constraints from component shortages and some pandemic-related disruptions. Some vendors have so far been able to manage the situation better than others but even the mighty market leader Samsung is starting to buckle under the pressure. Some of the companies themselves are cautious and don't expect the situation to let up until the second half of 2022 at the earliest.

Samsung smartphone shipments dropped an estimated 16.4% year over year as supply constraints from the chip shortage and other pandemic-related issues noticeably limited its capability to meet demand. Last year's Galaxy Note20 and Note20 Ultra models came out in August and the absence of an equivalent release in the same quarter this year likely played a part in the year over year drop.

On the other hand, Apple released its new iPhone 13 lineup as expected in September and estimated shipments were up 15% year over year. However, most of that growth was due to a mismatched comparison to the third quarter of 2020, when the expected release of the iPhone 12 did not happen and caused iPhone shipments to drop.

After bulldozing its way past Apple in the second quarter, Xiaomi ran out of steam in the third quarter due to the component shortage with estimated shipments dropping year over year and sequentially. Meanwhile, we estimate that Oppo and Vivo both grew shipments year over year as they continue to benefit from the decline of Huawei. 

Kagan's quarterly worldwide smartphone updates estimate the shipments and market shares of select vendors based on business unit revenues, supply chain information and proprietary shipment and market share tracking models. MI clients can access our full report that breaks out smartphone shipments by vendor along with our analysis on the North American market and the growing demand for 5G handsets.