Apple has finally managed to regain the second place in the global smartphone market, pushing Xiaomi down to number three according to preliminary data shared by global market research firm Canalys. The company managed to corner a market share of 15 percent in the third quarter of 2021, thanks to the strong demand for the new iPhone 13.
Samsung still maintains the first position
According to the data shared by Canalys, Samsung has managed to stay in lead with a 23 percent share, followed by Apple with a 15 percent market share and Xiaomi with a 14 percent share. The fourth and fifth positions were captured by Vivo and Oppo with 10 percent market shares each.
Current problems being faced by the smartphone industry
The report suggests that the global smartphone shipments fell 6 per cent in the third quarter, due to the ongoing component shortages. The chip shortages will reportedly continue well into 2022, due to which chipset manufacturers are increasing prices to disincentivize over-ordering. This is in turn causing the smartphone manufacturers to reluctantly increase the retail prices of their devices.
Apart from the chip shortages, local level smartphone vendors are also being forced to implement last-minute changes in device specification and order quantities. It is critical for them to maximise volume capacity to decrease costs and increase margins, but these communication errors between them and the retail and distributor channels is leading to confusion and inefficiency. Due to this, many channels in the industry are currently very nervous heading into important sales holidays.
Over and above these issues, the channel inventories are also reportedly running dangerously low. This will be a major issue, as the companies will not be able to keep up with the massive surge of demand that is forthcoming during the holiday season. This will cause the discounts on smartphones to be less aggressive this year, compared to previous years. However, we could get to see a lot of bundle offers being made to keep customers happy.
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