Digitimes Research said yesterday that after three consecutive years of decline from 2018 to 2020, global smartphone shipments in 2021 are expected to grow at a double-digit rate or 150 million units. This growth will be accelerated by the construction of 5G infrastructure and the process of commercial operations in Japan, Western Europe and the United States.
In the next five years, with the increase in the number of commercial 5G networks and the expansion of coverage, the replacement demand for 5G smartphones will increase. Digitimes Research predicts that the supply of entry-level 5G or 4G equipment in emerging markets will also drive global smartphone shipments. They are expected to reach 1.5 billion and 1.7 billion in 2023 and 2025, respectively.
Samsung Electronics and Apple will take the top two positions in smartphone shipments in 2021. They will be followed by OPPO, VIVO and Xiaomi. The Shenzhen-based Transsion will sell entry-level smartphones of multiple brands in Africa and South Asia. So it will rank sixth. Huawei, which is affected by the US ban, is expected to fall back to seventh place.
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Digitimes Research also predicts that global 5G smartphone shipments will reach 200 million units in 2020. Then, it will expand to 1.22 billion units in 2025.
Smartphone Shipments In Q2, 2020
According to Canalys data, the top 5 global smartphone brands in the second quarter of 2020 were Huawei, Samsung, Apple, Xiaomi and OPPO.
Compared with 370.3 million units in the second quarter of 2019, overall smartphone shipments in the second quarter of 2020 decreased by 20.4% reaching to 294.7 million units. The leaders have not changed much. Samsung and Huawei each gained 20% of the market share. At the same time, Apple is in the third place with a market share of 13.5%. Samsung’s smartphone shipments were 54.7 million units. It’s down from 75.1 million units in the second quarter of 2019 and 60 million units in the first quarter of 2020.
Huawei’s shipments were 54.1 million units. Compared with 58 million units in the second quarter of 2019, this is not a big change. It also accounts for 42.6% of the Chinese market. Apple shipped 38.3 million smartphones in the second quarter of 2020. Thus, it almost reached 38.5 million in the second quarter of 2019. Gartner attributed Apple’s good performance to the improvement of China’s business environment.