Further signs that the world market is getting the ship back on its feet after a catastrophic 2020. New figures from Gartner show a year-on-year increase in global sales of 26% for the first quarter of 2021. The overall increase is impressive, although it comes after several years of market slowdown followed by a gradual decline amid the pandemic.
The manufacturers were hit from all sides last year. 2020 started with a slowdown in production as China and Greater Asia were the first to be hit by the effects of Covid-19. In the months that followed, global demand slowed as shutdowns were ordered and job losses and economic problems severely hampered sales.
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The new Gartner numbers maintain the same global top 3 manufacturers as last year around this time. Thanks to affordable devices, Samsung’s total market share grew from 18.4 to 20.3% and returned to first place.
Apple had managed to push its way into number one in the fourth quarter due to its belated 5G advance. The company fell back to second in the first quarter – the same position it held at that time last year. According to the figures, the overall market share has increased by around 2% to 15.5. The top 5 are rounded out by three Chinese manufacturers – Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo – as Huawei’s struggles continue.
So far, the global shortage of chips seems to have had little impact on shipping.