5G has always been touted as the future of wireless communications, with its speed claiming to be 10 times more than its predecessor, 4G. However, the global rollout of 5G has been relatively slow, until 2021, where more and more countries are picking up the pace for their 5G coverage rollout whilst integrating 5G internet into their digital community. In turn, the global demand for 5G devices has skyrocketed in 2021, and smartphone manufacturers are rushing in to fulfill the 5G needs of the consumers.
According to the latest report by Strategy Analytics, the champion of the global 5G smartphone shipments race in Q3 of 2021 is none other than the one trillion market value Cupertino-based tech giant, Apple. It is no surprise that Apple shipped the most 5G smartphones in Q3 2021 granted that it has just released its popular and brand new 5G based iPhone 13 series back in September 2021, as well as offering 100 USD price cuts for its 5G flagship of yesteryear, the iPhone 12 too. These two factors drove up sales of the iPhones, whilst in the process drove up 5G smartphone shipments for Apple as well.
However, Apple only accounts for 25% of all global 5G smartphone shipments in Q3 2021. The other 75% all came from Android phone manufacturers. Topping the Android charts once again is Xiaomi, as Xiaomi has been busy releasing its many 5G devices as of late with its flagship killers, the Poco F3 series and Mi 11T series, and its budget 5G entry-level devices, with the Poco M3 Pro 5G, and Redmi Note 10 5G. But compared to Xiaomi’s last year Q3 performance, its Q3 2021 performance has stalled due to stiffer competition.
The biggest competitor is the runner-up of the global 5G Android smartphone shipments, Samsung. Assisted by its popular Galaxy Z Flip3 and Fold3 released back in August, and its ever-expanding range of A series smartphones (with the Galaxy A22 5G as the latest and cheapest A series device with 5G support), Samsung has done a lot to make sure it does not fall behind its competitors. In Q3 2021, Samsung has been bridging the gap of overtaking Xiaomi in global 5G smartphone shipments and if the trend continues, Samsung can overtake Xiaomi as soon as the next quarter.
As for global 5G smartphone shipment growth, the fastest brand to see growth in the market currently is Honor, with a growth of 194% quarter on quarter. Honor was sold by Huawei to a Chinese tech consortium back in early 2021, due to its previous parent company, Huawei facing shortage issues from its suppliers, which include TSMC that manufactured its Kirin chips and Google that provided access to Google Play Services.
Despite the many challenges Honor faced, Honor made a comeback to the smartphone industry with its Honor 50 series. The Honor 50 series was to fill in the flagship gap left by Huawei since it sported Magic UI in China which was very similar to EMUI developed in China. In addition, the Honor 50 was also equipped with Qualcomm 5G chipsets as compared to Huawei’s current flagships which can only be obtained with Qualcomm 4G chipsets. The most important part is driving Honor’s sales growth globally outside of China is undoubtedly the return of Google Play Services apps on Honor smartphones as it is no longer a part of Huawei, thus not affected by the US sanctions on Huawei.
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