Fourth-quarter 2021 smartphone shipments to the China market amounted to 80.5 million units. The volume represented a 9.5% increase from the prior quarter, driven by inventory preparation demand for the high season.
China-based smartphone brands shipped a total of 195 million phones in fourth-quarter 2021 as they aggressively ramped up shipments in the traditional high season in an attempt to make their whole-year target.
Global tablet shipments amounted to 37.13 million units in fourth-quarter 2021, up 5.4% from the prior quarter but down 20.2% from the prior year, as the tablet market continued to struggle with the IC shortage and the shipments came short of expectation in the traditional high season.
The China-based top-4 smartphone brands - Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and Honor - together shipped 509 million phones in 2021, among which 5G ones represented about 50%.
Global smartphone shipments in the second half of 2021 did not see a growth momentum as in the first half and had experienced decline in both quarters of the period amid the resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic and rising concerns over a potential inflation.
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.
