iphone: iPhone remains world’s most popular smartphone, but why there’s less to cheer for Apple

Apple turned out to be the smartphone brand with the highest market share in the world in Q4 2021, with the iPhone being the world’s most popular smartphone brand, as per a report by Canalys. The tech giant took the lion’s share of 22% of the global smartphone market boosted mainly by the iPhone 13 sales, with Samsung following closely on its heels with 20%, said the report. In 2020 too, Apple had reigned at the top spot with 23% and Samsung at the second position with 17%.
“Apple is back at the top of the smartphone market after three quarters, driven by a stellar performance from the iPhone 13,” says Canalys Analyst Sanyam Chaurasia.
As per the report, some unprecedented iPhone sales in Mainland China, boosted by the company’s aggressive pricing helped Apple with the overall growth.
The report added that Apple’s supply chain is showing signs of recovery but the company was forced to cut iPhone production in Q4 due to shortage of key iPhone components, which led to lesser units being manufactured when compared to demand. Consequently, the tech giant was able to meet the iPhone demand in certain, prioritised markets, whereas in other markets, customers had to wait for the latest iPhone units.
The supply chain issues and the resurgence of COVID-19 cases were the reasons the overall iPhone shipments grew by just 1% in Q4 2021, adds the report. The supply chain issues also worked to the benefit of Samsung and helped the South Korean smartphone maker close the gap.
Coming to the other three brands that made up the top 5 list, Xiaomi got the third place with 12% market share, Oppo got the fourth place with 9% market share while Vivo secured the fifth place with 8% market share.