In the third quarter of 2021, Apple regained the second position with 50.4 million units shipped for 15.2% market share and an “incredible” 20.8% year-over-year growth, according to International Data Corporation (IDC).
The double-digit growth in the smartphone market in the early quarters of 2021 came to an end in the third quarter of 2021 as worldwide shipments declined 6.7% year over year. According to preliminary data from the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, smartphone vendors shipped a total of 331.2 million units during the quarter. Although a slight decline was expected in the seasonally low third quarter, the actual decline were over twice the forecast of -2.9% growth.
“The supply chain and component shortage issues have finally caught up to the smartphone market, which until now seemed almost immune to this issue despite its adverse impact on many other adjacent industries,” said Nabila Popal, research director with IDC’s Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers, in a statement. “In all honestly, it was never fully immune to the shortages, but until recently the shortages were not severe enough to cause a decline in shipments and was simply limiting the rate of growth. However, the issues have now compounded, and shortages are affecting all vendors alike. On top of component shortages, the industry has also been hit with other manufacturing and logistical challenges. Stricter testing and quarantining policies are delaying transportation and power supply constraints in China are restricting manufacturing of key components. Despite all efforts to mitigate the impact, all major vendors’ production targets for the fourth quarter have been adjusted downwards. With continued strong demand, we don’t anticipate the supply-side issues to ease until well into next year.”
While almost all regions saw a decline in shipments during 3Q21, the severity of the impact varied between regions. Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan and China) (APeJC) suffered the largest declines of -23.2% and -11.6% year over year. However, in regions like the U.S., Western Europe, and China, the declines were much less pronounced at -0.2%, -4.6%, and -4.4% year over year, respectively, as these regions are usually given more priority by vendors.
Samsung finished the quarter in the top position with 69.0 million units shipped and 20.8% market share. This was a year-over-year decline of 14.2% largely due to supply constraints. Apple regained the second position with 50.4 million units shipped for 15.2% market share and an, as characterized by IDC, “incredible” 20.8% year-over-year growth. Xiaomi registered a 4.6% decline in 3Q21 after high double-digit growth over the previous four quarters as it also struggled with supply issues that it hadn’t faced in earlier quarters. Xiaomi still captured the third position with 13.4% share and shipments of 44.3 million units. vivo and OPPO tied* for fourth place with shipments of 33.3 million and 33.2 million units and market shares of 10.1% and 10.0%. vivo saw year-over-year shipment growth of 5.8% while OPPO ended the quarter with 8.6% year-over-year growth.
MacDailyNews Take: Obviously, these are estimates as Apple does not release the actual iPhone unit shipment figures, but a 20.8% YOY increase in any quarter, much less the one preceding the launch new iPhones is indeed incredible!
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Apple is coping better than most with component shortages. As Apple’s rivals are experiencing shortages which are at least as great or worse than Apple, there is not much danger of customers switching to rivals due to component shortages.
Quality, not quantity! (Unless you’re talking about the Benjamins!)
Apple delivered 30% YOY in Q42021 and 62% YOY profit growth. For any company as large as Apple (let alone one that actually builds and ships physical products) to pull off this level of growth is nearly unthinkable. And, Apple did this amidst the economic turmoil and supply chain issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bit still, Apple’s stock got hammered after the earnings report and APPL is now trading at just 26x trailing earnings. Why? Because some finance bros on Wall Street predicted even more bonkers results.
In contrast, Microsoft is trading at 36x trailing earnings after delivering 20% YOY growth with hardware sales actually down.
We are truly living in bizarro world…
It always takes a while for reality to sink in. AAPL often has hits like that, but as you say, the fundamentals of the business are excellent, so the shares are going to take an upwards trajectory very soon. The jerk reaction is something for jerks. A sensible reaction will soon follow.