The global Smartphone market grew 13.2% in the second quarter despite supply concerns and vendor shakeups, according to IDC.
According to preliminary data from IDC, smartphone vendors shipped a total of 313.2 million devices during the quarter, which further proves this market is headed back toward sustained growth. Every region contributed to the overall growth except for China, where the lack of flagship product launches, weaker than expected demand, and the further decline of the Huawei brand pulled the market down 10% compared to the second quarter of 2020.
"The smartphone market has been fortunate enough to not experience the severe supply constraints as the automotive, PC, and display industries," said Ryan Reith, program vice president with IDC's Mobile and Consumer Device Trackers. "The pandemic is far from over, yet consumers around the world continue to show the need for mobile devices and a willingness to spend in these categories. Shipments of 5G devices are on the rise, especially as price points go down, but we continue to believe that consumers are not yet buying specifically for 5G. They are buying because they need a replacement device, and in some cases a first-time smartphone."
With Huawei shipments continuing to decline and the recent announcement that LG is exiting the smartphone business, market share is up for grabs. This resulted in some significant shifts in the market positions of the remaining companies. Most notably, Xiaomi moved into the second position for the first time in 2Q21, moving Apple to third. In the markets where Huawei and LG are strongest (China and the USA, respectively), companies face different chances of gaining that share. In the United States, Motorola, TCL, and OnePlus experienced year-over-year gains beyond what they have seen in recent years due to LG's departure. In China, it's the usual suspects – Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, and Apple – that continue to gain from Huawei's rapid decline.
