It seems that 2021 wasn’t such a bad year for the smartphone industry. New reports claim that global smartphone revenues reached a new high in 2021, and it was led by Apple’s latest iPhone 13 lineup.

According to a report from Counterpoint, smartphone revenues grew a total of seven percent year-on-year and twelve percent when focusing on the comparison between the fourth quarter of 2020 and Q4 2021.

counterpoint smartphone revenue 2021

Source: Counterpoint Research

These numbers are rather impressive, especially when considering that the smartphone world has been affected by the ongoing pandemic and chip shortages. Whatever the case, the iPhone 13 lineup seems to be the main force behind this impressive feat. According to this data, Apple’s iPhone revenue may have increased by 35 percent year on year to reach a whopping $196 billion in 2021, which would make this its highest ever quarterly revenue. These numbers also helped Apple get 44 percent of total global smartphone revenue.

  • Apple led the global smartphone market revenues in 2021 with annual revenue of $196 billion.
  • The top five smartphone brands contributed more than 85% of the total smartphone revenue.
  • Apple, realme and Motorola recorded their highest ever quarterly revenues in Q4 2021.
  • Global smartphone ASP increased by 12% YoY in Q4 2021, driven by the iPhone 13 series.

The success of the iPhone 13 lineup also pushed the average selling price of phones by twelve percent in the fourth quarter of 2021. Another important factor that helped increase smartphone revenue in 2021 was the addition of 5G support to several devices, as these phones took 40 percent of global smartphone shipments in 2021. In contrast, 5G smartphones only took 18 percent back in 2020.

Apple led the way with the latest iPhone models, but this revenue record was also achieved thanks to Samsung, increasing its numbers by eleven percent year on year. Xiaomi and OPPO increased by 49 and 27 percent, respectively.

Source: Counterpoint