The first quarter of 2020 saw the first COVID-19 lockdowns, greatly impacting the smartphone market away by wiping away a massive amount of shipments from the planning board. Just twelve months later the industry has managed to get back on its feet, with the latest reports revealing a 24{cb3fe4c54de06d7c4b8dceae281fb32e521027d1659af7adec2f427d2f5333d9} increase in global smartphone shipments.
According to Strategy Analytics, Samsung has kept its top spot in the first quarter of 2021, with a 32{cb3fe4c54de06d7c4b8dceae281fb32e521027d1659af7adec2f427d2f5333d9} increase in shipments on a yearly basis. Apple also increased its sales by 44{cb3fe4c54de06d7c4b8dceae281fb32e521027d1659af7adec2f427d2f5333d9}, retaining second place, but Xiaomi in third posted an even bigger increase and reduced the gap.
| Company | Q1 2020 shipments (in million) |
Q1 2021 shipments (in million) |
Market share 2021 | Yearly change |
| Samsung | 58 | 77 | 23{cb3fe4c54de06d7c4b8dceae281fb32e521027d1659af7adec2f427d2f5333d9} | 32{cb3fe4c54de06d7c4b8dceae281fb32e521027d1659af7adec2f427d2f5333d9} |
| Apple | 39 | 57 | 17{cb3fe4c54de06d7c4b8dceae281fb32e521027d1659af7adec2f427d2f5333d9} | 44{cb3fe4c54de06d7c4b8dceae281fb32e521027d1659af7adec2f427d2f5333d9} |
| Xiaomi | 28 | 49 | 15{cb3fe4c54de06d7c4b8dceae281fb32e521027d1659af7adec2f427d2f5333d9} | 80{cb3fe4c54de06d7c4b8dceae281fb32e521027d1659af7adec2f427d2f5333d9} |
| Oppo | 23 | 38 | 11{cb3fe4c54de06d7c4b8dceae281fb32e521027d1659af7adec2f427d2f5333d9} | 68{cb3fe4c54de06d7c4b8dceae281fb32e521027d1659af7adec2f427d2f5333d9} |
| vivo | 20 | 37 | 11{cb3fe4c54de06d7c4b8dceae281fb32e521027d1659af7adec2f427d2f5333d9} | 85{cb3fe4c54de06d7c4b8dceae281fb32e521027d1659af7adec2f427d2f5333d9} |
| Others | 107 | 82 | 24{cb3fe4c54de06d7c4b8dceae281fb32e521027d1659af7adec2f427d2f5333d9} | -23{cb3fe4c54de06d7c4b8dceae281fb32e521027d1659af7adec2f427d2f5333d9} |
| Total | 275 | 340 | 100{cb3fe4c54de06d7c4b8dceae281fb32e521027d1659af7adec2f427d2f5333d9} | 24{cb3fe4c54de06d7c4b8dceae281fb32e521027d1659af7adec2f427d2f5333d9} |
Oppo and vivo complete the top 5 in that order. This means that Huawei drops out and has been relegated to the “Others” category, where sales declined 23{cb3fe4c54de06d7c4b8dceae281fb32e521027d1659af7adec2f427d2f5333d9}.
