Global smartphone shipments to reach 1.38 billion units in 2021: Report

The global smartphone shipments are forecasted to rebound by 6.5% on-year to reach 1.38 billion units in 2021 as the economic situation improves with the weakening COVID-19 pandemic and supply-side push of 5G devices, according to a report by Strategy Analytics.

“2021 is going to be the year of Chinese smartphone vendors. In the Asia Pacific, Vivo, Xiaomi and Oppo will become top 3 players driven by aggressive marketing, expanding channel footprints and competitive pricing,” said Linda Sui, Senior Director at Strategy Analytics.

“For 2021, we believe Xiaomi will emerge as the third-largest global smartphone vendor surpassing Huawei. Xiaomi has been performing well in the India and Russia markets, and has also been very aggressive in Central & Eastern Europe and Western Europe,” said Abhilash Kumar, Smartphone Analyst at Strategy Analytics.

The agency said Transsion will dominate Samsung to become the top smartphone maker in Africa and the Middle East market, while Xiaomi will overtake Apple to become the third-largest vendor.

“In the Western European markets, Xiaomi will solidify its grip on third place after Apple and Samsung,” it noted.