#market analysis

Even though worldwide smartphone shipments declined year over year in the fourth quarter of 2021, Samsung still reigns as the top smartphone brand in 2021 in terms of market share. Samsung which boasts a 20.1% market share led the way with a 6% growth year-over-year, followed by Apple and Xiaomi, in second and third respectively. On an annual basis though, the market grew 5.7% in 2021 with 1.35 billion smartphones shipped. "As we mentioned last quarter, the supply chain and component shortages started to have meaningful impact on the smartphone market as we entered the second half of the year, and this continues to be the case as we've now entered 2022. Even in China, where there are some challenges around weakening consumer demand, the market performed much better in the fourth quarter than expected, 5% better to be exact, albeit still a year-over-year decline. With channel inventory low in almost all regions and as supply constraints ease up towards the middle of the year, IDC expects this pent-up demand to drive the market toward healthy growth in 2022." Source: IDC Read more in our articles including "IDC: Samsung top smartphone brand in 2021 market share" and "Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 5, Snapdragon 4 Gen 5 announced".