Global smartphone shipments jump 24% in Q1 to 340 million units

Shawn Knight

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Forward-looking: Strategy Analytics said chip shortages and supply side constraints over the past year did not have a major impact in Q1 among the top five phone brands, but noted that it was an issue for smaller vendors and will likely continue over the next few quarters.

The global smartphone industry has rebounded from last year’s downturn in a big way. According to the latest data from research firm Strategy Analytics, global smartphone shipments reached 340 million units in the first quarter of 2021. That’s a healthy increase of 24 percent year over year and represents the highest growth since 2015.

Strategy Analytics credited heavy demand from consumers with aging devices looking to upgrade to the latest and greatest handsets and the 5G push from Chinese vendors as two key drivers of growth during the quarter.

Speaking of China, the region saw smartphone shipments shoot up 35 percent compared to the same period a year ago, totaling 94 million units in Q1.

Pulling back, we see that the top five brands all retained their same position in relation to each other. Samsung again led the way with shipments of 77 million units, followed by Apple with 57 million iPhones moved. Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo rounded out the top five with shipments of 49 million units, 38 million units and 37 million units, respectively, during Q1 2021.

Image credit: Sfio Cracho, Full_chok

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