Samsung trails behind Apple in global smartphone sales

Reports on Friday showed that Apple surpassed Samsung Electronics in global smartphone shipments during the fourth quarter of 2021.

According to market analyst firms Strategy Analytics and Counterpoint Research, Apple has overtaken Samsung in the race to produce the best smartphone with a 22.4% share of the market versus 18.4% for Samsung.

During the October-December period, Samsung shipped 69 million phones, while Apple shipped 80 million units courtesy of strong demand in China and other markets for the new iPhone 13 series.

Compared to Apple's 81.5 million units, Counterpoint Research estimated Samsung's shipment figures at 67.2 million units.

Strategy Analytics reported that shipments of smartphones dropped 3 percent in the fourth quarter over the same period last year, mainly due to the Covid-19 pandemic that disrupted manufacturing.

According to Yonhap news agency, Apple tends to perform better in the fourth quarter, helped by yearly iPhone launches that typically take place in the second half of a year.

For the full year, however, Samsung maintained the top spot with a 20 percent market share, followed by Apple at 16.8 percent. Smartphone shipments rebounded to 1.36 billion units last year, up 5 percent from the previous year when global smartphone shipments contracted 8 percent on-year.

"During the first half of 2022, component shortages, price inflation, and Covid uncertainty are expected to continue weighing on the smartphone market," states the report. The report also added that the second half of the year will be less chaotic as a result of Covid vaccines, increases in interest rates by central banks, and fewer supply disruptions at factories,

Samsung kept the prices of its new premium Galaxy smartphones the same despite escalating inflation and raw material costs.

Samsung's flagship Galaxy series normally sold 35-40 million units, but the Galaxy S21 series, which was launched in January last year, was believed to have sold less than 30 million units.