The smartphone sales globally to end users fell 6.8% in the third quarter of 2021 compared to the same period last year, according to data from the Gartner consultancy. The drop in terminal sales had several reasons, among which is the disruption of production plans caused by the shortage of components, which has led to lower inventory and a delay in the availability of products, which affects directly at the sales level.
The current shortage of components such as integrated circuits, such as radio frequency or power management, delayed the production of smartphones worldwide. This also caused problems in the balance between supply and demand. In addition, end users had limited choice at points of sale. High-end smartphone sales continued to grow, though, although overall handset sales were down during the quarter.
Apple regained second place in sales to end users, while Xiaomi fell back to third place during the quarter. Samsung is still the leader in smartphone sales, although its market share has fallen by 1.9% year-on-year. Even with a general decline in sales, Samsung has seen its high-end models grow, especially due to the demand for their folding smartphones.
The Chinese Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo, which occupy the third, fourth and fifth positions in sales, saw their market share grow: 1%, 2.4% and 1.7%, respectively. Apple has continued to experience strong demand for iPhones, driven by its feature update. Its updated A15 bionic sensor, better autonomy and the optimization of the sensor of its camera to improve photography, or the expansion of 5G, among other causes, have led many to finally decide to update their iPhone or buy one.
The strong strategy of Xiaomi By betting on online as the main sales channel in Europe and the Middle East, as well as its alliance with telecommunications service providers in these areas, they have helped the company increase its market share worldwide in the quarter. For its part, Alive registered the highest year-on-year growth of the top five smartphone providers in the quarter: 20.9%. The company launched 13 new models in the quarter to try to take advantage of what its entry into new markets, such as Europe and the Middle East and the addition of new physical vendors, can bring.
