Global smartphone production volume for 2021 is expected to reach 1.36 billion units, a 9% increase YoY. This is seen as a good news for the industry which is currently reeling under in shortage of chips production due to issues in foundry capacities.
Most smartphone brands are making do with the materials they are able to obtain.
Among the brands, Samsung is expected to recapture the top spot in global smartphone production in the first quarter of the year. It is set to pip its archrival Apple. Samsung is well served with the release of its new flagship smartphone.
It is estimated to produce 62 million smartphones in the January-March period and account for 18.1%.
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Apple to be pushed to second spot
Samsung has released the new lineup of its flagship Galaxy S21 series in advance so as to maintain its market share in the high-end segment, the report by market-intelligence company TrendForce said. "At the same time, Samsung has adopted promotional pricing to boost the sales of its latest devices."
Apple is expected to drop to the second spot with 54 million units, or a market share of 15.8%, in the first three months of 2021, according to the report.
China's Xiaomi is projected to become the third-largest smartphone producer in the first quarter of 2021, with a share of 15.2%.
Chinese brands' aggression to pay off
Oppo (including Oppo, OnePlus, Realme), Xiaomi, and Vivo are expected to maintain an aggressive production target and actively expand in both the overseas and domestic markets, TrendForce said.
Oppo is expected to become the top fourth-largest player with a share of 15.1%, followed by Huawei Technologies Co. with 7.7%.
Xiaomi and Oppo have been seizing market shares with the highly cost-effective Redmi and Realme series, respectively. Notably, Xiaomi is expected to achieve a better performance in terms of market share for the whole year due to its earlier expansion in the overseas markets.
For the first quarter of 2021, global smartphone production is likely to reach 342 million units, up 25% from a year ago.
For the whole of 2021, the market researcher expected the global smartphone production volume to reach 1.36 billion units, up 9% from a year ago.
