SINGAPORE – Demand for smartphones worldwide grew for the primary time in three years final 12 months regardless of the continuing world chip scarcity as a consequence of pandemic-caused disruptions.
Distributors shipped 1.35 billion items, a 7 per cent enhance from 1.26 billion in 2020, in accordance with the newest annual report by market analysis agency Canalys.
Demand shot up as individuals trusted these gadgets for every thing from grocery buying to distant working amid social isolation measures to curb the unfold of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Entry to vaccine data has additionally gone digital, because the authorities around the globe battled the usage of pretend paperwork when journey began to renew final 12 months.
“Smartphones stay a necessity in immediately’s more and more digitalised and related society, much more so in a pandemic-stricken interval,” mentioned analysis analyst Chiew Le Xuan.
Whereas smartphone cargo final 12 months is near the quantity in 2019, it nonetheless falls wanting the 1.46 billion in 2017, which was famous by some analysis corporations resembling Counterpoint to be the interval when worldwide smartphone gross sales peaked.
After 2017, world shipments have been steadily dropping as fewer individuals discover a want to exchange their older handsets and as smartphone makers battle to seek out the following huge invention.
Based on Canalys, world gross sales for smartphones fell by 4.6 per cent to about 1.39 billion items in 2018, after which by an extra two per cent to almost 1.37 billion items in 2019.
In 2020, 1.26 billion items had been shipped amidst the worldwide semiconductor scarcity and provide chain disruptions attributable to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The agency’s findings confirmed that Samsung was the highest vendor worldwide final 12 months, delivery practically 275 million smartphones, or about 20 per cent share of the full shipments made.
Apple was second with 230 million items, whereas Xiaomi took third place with 191 million items. Oppo was in fourth place with 145 million items shipped, and Vivo was fifth with about 130 million items.
Canalys advised The Straits Instances that distributors have tried to mitigate the affect of the continuing world chip scarcity on their backside line by elevating costs.
The pandemic precipitated factories to shutter, hampering not simply the manufacturing of smartphones but in addition televisions, computer systems and vehicles.
A CNBC report in September final 12 months quoted chip agency Superior Micro Units’ chief govt Lisa Su as saying that the scarcity would ease within the second half of this 12 months as provide ramps up.