The chip shortage that is currently paralyzing the entire industry will greatly affect smartphone sales in 2021. Research firm Counterpoint has seen its forecast for the number of smartphone shipments down.
In a new report, Counterpoint explains that it forecast the global annual growth of the smartphone industry to increase by 9% to 1.45 billion units shipped in 2021. However, the estimates have been revised downwards, since new adjusted forecast calls for growth of just 6%, with an estimated total of 1.41 billion units shipped.
We will then attend an increase in sales compared to 2020, which was the year most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic with only 1.33 billion units sold. However, this will be a significant decrease compared to the years 2018 and 2019, during which the research firm had respectively recorded 1.51 and 1.48 billion smartphones shipped.
Apple is less impacted by the shortage than its competitors
” Semiconductor shortage seems to affect all brands in ecosystems Said Tom Kang, research director at Counterpoint Research. However, he adds that “ Samsung, Oppo, Xiaomi have all been affected and we are lowering our forecasts. But Apple appears to be the most resilient and the least affected by the component shortage “.
This corroborates previous reports from Nikkei and DigiTimes which claimed that component suppliers were ditching Samsung in favor of Apple. According to Counterpoint, “ the situation seems to get worse as we move into the third trimester […] Some smartphone makers now say they only get 70% of their orders, creating multiple problems “.
While Apple recently collapsed to 4th place in the smartphone market, far behind Xiaomi, the American manufacturer could take this opportunity to steal first place at the end of the year. Indeed, Counterpoint had already announced that iPhone 13 sales should allow Apple to see its market share explode in the fourth quarter, in addition to consolidating its lead in the 5G market. The fourth quarter should therefore be largely dominated by Apple, but we will have to wait for the figures from Counterpoint to be sure.
Source: Counterpoint