Apple was responsible for 22% of global smartphone shipments in Q4 2021

In letter : Apple was responsible for almost a quarter of global smartphone shipments in the fourth quarter of 2021, thanks in part to solid demand for the iPhone 13 family. Samsung was second with 20% of the market, followed by Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo with respectively 12%, 9% and 8% of total shipments.

Apple’s market share fell 1% from Q4 2020, while Samsung’s rose 3 percentage points.

Canalys analyst Sanyam Chaurasia said Apple has returned to the top of the smartphone market after three quarters. Demand was particularly high in mainland China, “with aggressive pricing for its flagship devices keeping the value proposition strong.”

While the supply chain disruption primarily affected low-end vendors, Apple was not immune to its effects. Cupertino had to cut production in the fourth quarter due to shortages of key components. This hasn’t had too big of an impact on priority markets, but Canalys said customers in other regions have to wait to get their hands on the latest iPhones.

Overall, smartphone shipments grew only one percent in the fourth quarter.

Speaking to Supply Chain, Canalys VP Nicole Peng noted component makers are looking to ramp up production, but it will take years for major foundries to dramatically increase chip output.

Some brands are already taking steps to adapt to the current environment, such as tweaking device specifications to better complement available materials, approaching promising chipmakers to source ICs, focusing on the most best-selling products and launching amazing new products.