Global smartphone shipment volume is estimated to have topped 1.35 billion units in 2021, up 6.6% year-on-year, according to MIC (Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute), a major government think tank and leading IT research institute in Taiwan. Owing to the ongoing shortage of key components and COVID-19, MIC has revised 2021 smartphone shipment forecast downward from 1.37 billion to 1.35 billion units, higher than the performance in 2020 but still lower than that in 2019. The ratio of global smartphone shipments in the first half and second half of 2021 is estimated at 47.6%, equivalent to 644.6 million units, and 52.4%, equivalent to 709.7 million units. In the fourth quarter of 2021, global mobile phone shipment volume grew 20.6% sequentially and 5.4% year-on-year to reach 474.7 million units, 80.1% or 380.2 million of which were smartphones. Global smartphone shipment volume in the fourth quarter of 2021 alone grew 1.3% year-on-year and 15.4% sequentially.

Worldwide Mobile Phone Shipment Volume, 1Q2019-2Q2022

 

Source: MIC, February 2022

MIC predicts global smartphone shipments in the first and second quarter of 2022 will reach 348.3 million and 305.8 million units, respectively. Global smartphone shipments in 2022 is estimated at 1.4 billion units, up 3.4% compared to 2021. Despite the pandemic and the component shortage issues seem to ease, the concerns over the possibility of other variants and the structural shortage are expected to continue affecting the industry’s shipments in 2022. The structural shortage that is expected to affect the IT industry is primarily due to the market’s underestimation of production capacity of key components required by the supply chain and it is an issue that cannot be resolved in the short run.

Established in 1987, MIC (Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute) is a division of III (Institute for Information Industry), a major government think tank and IT research institute in Taiwan.

To know more about this topic, please visit:  Worldwide Smartphone Market Forecast, 2021 - 2025, Taiwan ICT Industry Outlook, 2021 and Beyond,  The Taiwan 5G CPE Industry, 2Q 2021, Worldwide Major Mobile Phone Vendor Performance

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