Huawei to fall to 7th ranking in smartphones in 2021

The worldwide smartphone shipment will increase 9% in 2021 to 1.36 billion units, according to TrendForce.

Shipment in 2020 had contracted 11% from the previous year to 1.25 billion units due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the research firm said. The top shippers, in order, were Samsung, Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo.

The worldwide smartphone market is expected to recover in 2021 due to demand increase in emerging countries and phone replacements.

Huawei’s shipment is expected to drop steeply this year from US sanctions and sales of the Honor sub-brand, TrendForce said.

Huawei is expected to rank seventh. The top shippers, in order, is expected to be Samsung, Apple, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and Transsion. These six companies will account for around 80% of smartphones shipped in 2021.

However, smartphone shipment may be effected from geopolitical uncertainties and the shortage of production capacity in the semiconductor foundry market.

More 5G smartphones will be shipped this year. In 2020, 240 million 5G smartphones were shipped, accounting for 19% of the total. Chinese brand shipped 60% out of the total 5G smartphones shipped.

In 2021, 5G smartphones will account for 37% of total smartphone shipment, or around 500 million units, TrendForce said.