IDC: Smartphone shipments to grow by 5.3% in 2021

The latest quarterly report on global smartphone shipments from International Data Corporation (IDC) shows that despite disruptions caused by supply chain constraints and a global chip shortage, smartphone shipments are still expected to achieve a respectable 5.3% growth in 2021.

IDC's worldwide quarterly mobile phone tracker shows that shipments will climb to 1.35 billion units, up 5.3% from last year.

IDC's report also noted that the third quarter was weaker than expected and that global component shortages had a greater impact than manufacturers had forecast. These challenges are not expected to improve significantly until mid-2022, resulting in a downward revision of the 2022 growth forecast from 3.4% to 3.0%. The 2021 outlook was also revised down from an initial 7.4% to 5.3%, according to IDC.

IDC said that overall, the challenges of logistics and component shortages will slowly decline, with an annual growth rate of 3.5% expected over the next five years. This will be driven by pent-up demand, the continued transition from feature phones to smartphones, and a decline in the average selling price of phones. IDC also said that component shortages have severely affected 4G models, which IDC believes is the main reason for the downward revision of the third quarter of 2021 outlook.

The fourth quarter will see a single-digit decline, although this may be felt more in the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Japan and China). However, due to impressive half-year figures across regions, only the Chinese market will see year-on-year flatness, while other regions will record positive growth.

By operating system, the average price of an Android device will peak at $265, while the average price of an iOS device will peak at $950. The data also shows that Apple accounts for approximately 43% of all smartphone revenues and has a market share of 17.1%.