Huawei is expected to fall from third place in 2020 to seventh place in 2021 in smartphone production output, reckons TrendForce, as it is hit by US technology export restrictions and the spin-off of its budget smartphone unit Honor.
The top six for 2021, will be Samsung, Apple, Xiaomi, OPPO, Vivo, and Transsion. Together, they will account for almost 80% of the global smartphone market.
Worldwide smartphone production is expected to increase by 9% to 1.36 billion units.
The penetration rate of 5G smartphones is likely to rise to 37% in 2021 with global production of 500 million units even though output is still constrained by limited foundry capacities.
Thanks to the Chinese government’s aggressive push for 5G commercialization in 2020, global 5G smartphone production for the year reached about 240 million units, a 19% penetration rate, with Chinese brands accounting for almost a 60% market share.
