Global smartphone shipments dropped 6 percent in Q3 2021, as phone vendors struggled to meet demand for devices amid component shortages.
Samsung was the leading vendor with 23 percent share.
Apple regained second place with 15 percent share, thanks to strong early demand for iPhone 13. Apple had an impressive quarter as the smartphone share of Apple was 12 percent in Q3 2020.
Xiaomi took 14 percent share for third place. Xiaomi has retained its smartphone share in the third quarter.
Vivo and OPPO completed the top five with 10 percent share each. Vivo and OPPO have enhanced their smartphone share from 9 percent in Q3 2020.
“The smartphone industry is striving to maximize production of devices. Chipset manufacturers are increasing prices to disincentivize over-ordering, in an attempt to close the gap between demand and supply. Chip shortages will not ease until well into 2022. As a result of this, as well as high costs of global freight, smartphone brands have reluctantly pushed up device retail pricing,” said Canalys Principal Analyst, Ben Stanton.
At the local level, smartphone vendors are implementing last-minute changes in device specification and order quantities. It is critical for them to do this and maximize volume capacity, but it does lead to confusion and inefficiency when communicating with retail and distributor channels.
Many channels are nervous heading into important sales holidays, such as Singles’ Day in China, and Black Friday in the west. Channel inventories of smartphones are already running low, and as more customers start to anticipate these sales cycles, the impending wave of demand will be impossible to fulfill.
