Samsung Gained 2 Points of Q4 Smartphone Share on Apple: IDC

Global Q4 smartphone shipments declined year over year, for a second straight quarter of negative growth, reported IDC Thursday. Vendors shipped 362.4 million phones during the holiday quarter, 3.2% fewer than in 2020's Q4, it said. A strong first half spurred 5.7% growth in full-year 2021 shipments, to 1.35 billion handsets, it said. “There's no question the second half of 2021 failed to meet expectations with volumes declining 4.5%” year over year, said IDC analyst Ryan Reith. The supply chain bottlenecks and components shortages “started to have meaningful impact on the smartphone market as we entered the second half of the year, and this continues to be the case as we've now entered 2022,” he said. “We expect to see supply and logistical challenges continue through the first half of this year, but we currently believe we'll return to growth in the second quarter and second half of 2022.” Demand remains strong “in many markets,” spurred by “increasing consumer interest in 5G and new form factors like foldables," he said. Apple maintained top global Q4 share, despite its 2.9% decline in year-over-year shipments, said IDC. No. 2 Samsung gained 2 points of share on Apple by virtue of its 8.1% increase in shipments during the quarter.