The global smartphone market posted positive growth for the first time in four years, with annual shipments rising 4.5 per cent to 1.39 billion units in 2021 and Apple posting record sales, a study by Counterpoint Research showed.
The Hong Kong-based research firm said that despite the first expansion since 2017, shipments remained below pre-Covid-19 levels, and the recovery could have been better if not for the pandemic's effects and the supply chain crunch that was severely felt in the second half of 2021, most notably in the semiconductor industry.
“The major brands navigated the component shortages comparatively better and hence managed to grow by gaining share from long-tail brands,” said Harmeet Singh Walia, senior researcher at Counterpoint Research.
The global smartphone industry is expected to be hindered in 2022 by supply chain disruptions and component shortages, with new variants of coronavirus further exacerbating the situation. Any improvement would be felt in the second half, the International Data Corporation told The National in December.
Still, Apple shipped a record 237.9 million iPhones in 2021, which was more than 17 per cent of total shipments, Counterpoint said. That was almost 3 per cent better than its previous best of 231.5 million units in 2015 and more than 18 per cent better than the 201.1 million units shipped last year.
Apple on Thursday reported record quarterly sales and net profit in its 2022 fiscal first quarter, and was one of the biggest gainers during the pandemic thanks to its services portfolio.
South Korea's Samsung Electronics, the world's biggest mobile phone maker and perennial market leader, remained on top last year, with 270.7 million shipments – almost a fifth of the total for 2021 but good for only 6 per cent growth from the previous year.
Samsung on Thursday reported a 53 per cent surge in fourth-quarter operating profit, as record sales helped the company rebound despite supply chain disruptions. It is also scheduled to announce its latest Galaxy S22 smartphone range on February 9.
In the fourth quarter of 2021, Apple grew 8 per cent and Samsung was flat compared to the same three-month period in 2020.
The biggest market share growth came from Chinese manufacturers, with Xiaomi improving 31 per cent on 190.4 million units shipped in 2021. Last August, Counterpoint reported that the Beijing-based company overtook Samsung to be the number one smartphone manufacturer globally in June, though Samsung still topped in the second quarter.
Oppo and Vivo, both subsidiaries of Dongguan-based BBK Electronics, shipped 143.2 million and 131.3 million units, respectively, to grow 28 per cent and 21 per cent in 2021.
However, despite the strength of its home-grown companies, the smartphone market in China continued to decline because of supply issues caused by the ongoing component shortages, as well as demand-side issues resulting from lengthening replacement cycles, Counterpoint said.
Sales in the world's biggest smartphone market declined 9 per cent year-on-year for the third consecutive quarter in the three-month period ended December 31, Counterpoint said. For the full year, sales dropped 2 per cent, the fourth straight year of declines.
Counterpoint on January 15 also reported that Apple was the top smartphone brand in China in terms of sales units and revenue for six consecutive weeks to the end of 2021.
Despite the threat of a resurgence towards the end of last year, and with supply issues hopefully coming to an end towards the middle of this year, there is reason to be optimistic for good growth in 2022 as a whole
Jan Stryjak,
research director at Counterpoint
Outside the top five, Lenovo-owned Motorola Mobility was the fastest-growing brand in the top 10 based on annual global shipments, taking advantage of LG’s exit in the US. Realme, another subsidiary of China's BBK, entered the top five Android original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) globally for the first time as its cheaper 5G strategy started to pay off.
Honor, the former budget brand of Huawei, finished its first full year as an independent OEM with a ranking among the top 10 globally, and is already among the top five OEMs in China where it benefited from the reinstatement of its relationship with its suppliers since its separation from Huawei, Counterpoint said. Honor recently announced its first foldable smartphone, the Magic V.
While 2021 was challenging, the world slowly moving on from the pandemic presents an opportunity for further growth in the smartphone market, said Jan Stryjak, research director at Counterpoint.
“Despite the threat of a resurgence towards the end of last year, and with supply issues hopefully coming to an end towards the middle of this year, there is reason to be optimistic for good growth in 2022 as a whole,” he added.
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
Match info
Deccan Gladiators 87-8
Asif Khan 25, Dwayne Bravo 2-16
Maratha Arabians 89-2
Chadwick Walton 51 not out
Arabians won the final by eight wickets
Who has lived at The Bishops Avenue?
- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
- Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills.
Hunting park to luxury living
- Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
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Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
So what is Spicy Chickenjoy?
Just as McDonald’s has the Big Mac, Jollibee has Spicy Chickenjoy – a piece of fried chicken that’s crispy and spicy on the outside and comes with a side of spaghetti, all covered in tomato sauce and topped with sausage slices and ground beef. It sounds like a recipe that a child would come up with, but perhaps that’s the point – a flavourbomb combination of cheap comfort foods. Chickenjoy is Jollibee’s best-selling product in every country in which it has a presence.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
More from UAE Human Development Report:
Heavily-sugared soft drinks slip through the tax net
Some popular drinks with high levels of sugar and caffeine have slipped through the fizz drink tax loophole, as they are not carbonated or classed as an energy drink.
Arizona Iced Tea with lemon is one of those beverages, with one 240 millilitre serving offering up 23 grams of sugar - about six teaspoons.
A 680ml can of Arizona Iced Tea costs just Dh6.
Most sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, five teaspoons of sugar in a 500ml bottle.
