Third-quarter 2021 smartphone shipments by China-based vendors both home and abroad increased from the prior quarter level, amounting to 175 million units.
Global tablet shipments started to decline due to the component shortage. In 2022, with the component shortage easing, global tablet shipments are projected to increase 1.3% from the 2021 level.
With COVID-19 becoming like the seasonal flu and having diminishing influence, Digitimes Research expects smartphone shipments to grow between 4-7% annually over the next five years, driven by smartphone users upgrading to 5G phones and feature phone users switching to low-cost smartphones in emerging markets.
The first-half 2021 shipments are expected to come to 650 million units while whole-year 2021 shipments are estimated to arrive at 1.32 billion units, up 6.4% from the prior year.
First-quarter 2021 smartphone shipments to the China market amounted to 94.6 million units. The volume represented a growth of 9% quarter-over-quarter and an upsurge of 99.6% year-over-year due to a low base period in the corresponding period of 2020.
Fourth-quarter 2020 smartphone shipments to the China market amounted to 86.7 million units. The volume represented 19.3% growth quarter-over-quarter but 10.4% decline year-over-year.
