Xiaomi pulled quite the upset in Q2 2021, the Chinese smartphone maker was able to leapfrog American powerhouse Apple in terms of device shipments. Well, according to a new report by Canalys the roles have been reversed because Apple has reclaimed its second spot behind Samsung in Q3, 2021.
| Q3 2021 | Q2 2021 | |
| Samsung | 23% | 19% |
| Apple | 15% | 14% |
| Xiaomi | 14% | 17% |
| vivo | 9% | 10% |
| OPPO | 9% | 10% |
Canalys Preliminary Smartphone Market Pulse: Q3 2021
As expected, Samsung continued its dominance by increasing its share of shipments from 19% to 23%. Apple’s second place was by a marginal 1% increase in its share of mobile device shipments in Q3, 2021, while Xiaomi’s demise was more pronounced with a fall of 3% which led to Apple supplanting the Chinese smartphone maker in the third quarter.
However, the story was all rosy for the market as a whole because according to Canalys the overall smartphone shipments dropped by 6%. The major reasons behind the slump were supply chain issues and chipset shortages that have plagued the industry.
“The smartphone industry is striving to maximize production of devices as best it can. On the supply side, chipset manufacturers are increasing prices to disincentivize over-ordering, in an attempt to close the gap between demand and supply. But despite this, 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.”
Ben Stanton, Canalys Principal Analyst
It would appear that the effects of the pandemic are going to be felt for some to come.-techzim