Overview:

The global smartphone market in 2021 is expected to show 1,392 m units, a decrease of 1.6% compared to the September FCST. The decline in 2021 earnings is mainly due to the sluggish 3Q earnings in Europe and Southeast Asia markets due to the re-spreading of Covid19 strains. In addition, while the overall global parts shortage is likely to continue in the fourth quarter, we expect this shortage to be a limiting factor for the market growth.

The global smartphone market in 2022 is expected to be 1,492 m units, expected to show a decrease of about 1.2% compared to the FCST in September.

In the first half of 2022, the smartphone market will continue to move sideways due to the continued spread of Covid-19 variants and the shortage of components. However, sales volume is likely to increase in the second half of the year mainly due to escaping the Covid-19 impact zone due to the Covid-19 treatment and partially resolving the shortage of components. However, the possibility of new variants related to COVID-19 makes market uncertainty.

We consider the most critical factors in 2021 and 2022 as below;

• The full-fledged impact on smartphone OEMs due to the deepening of the component shortage.
• The continuity of supply chain issues for smartphone parts.
• The sluggish recovery in the Chinese smartphone market will be continuous in 2022.
• Gap in recovery rate between developed and developing countries after COVID-19.

Published Date: December 2021