Apple’s iPhone was the top 5G phone shipped worldwide during the third quarter
Strategy Analytics says that the iPhone is the best-selling 5G phone in the world. Turning to Android flavored 5G handsets, Xiaomi is at the top of the list with Samsung edging out Oppo for second place. Ville Petteri-Ukonaho, Associate Director at Strategy Analytics, noted that “Samsung edged ahead of Oppo to become the second leading Android 5G smartphone vendor globally in Q3 2021.”
Apple iPhone led all 5G phones in global shipments during the third quarter
Now that it is no longer part of Huawei, Honor does not have to deal with the restrictions that were placed on Huawei by the U.S. Those restrictions no longer apply to Honor allowing it to access its U.S. supply chain and use the Google Mobile Services (GMS) version of Android. Honor also can now use 5G versions of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips.
Honor took advantage of its independence from Huawei in Q3 to have the best quarter-over-quarter growth in 5G phone shipments
Samsung’s strength in 5G phone shipments in Q3 outside China and Oppo’s growth inside China dampened Xiaomi’s Q3 5G results
During the third quarter, independent Honor had the largest annual growth in global 5G handset shipments
While Xiaomi had a strong gain in global 5G phone shipments during the second quarter, such growth faded during the third quarter. Ken Hyers, Director at Strategy Analytics, explained what happened during the period that started in July and ran through the end of September. “Samsung’s resurgence blunted Xiaomi’s ability to grow in Europe in Q3 2021,” Hyers noted, “while OPPO surged in China. Facing a combined one-two punch from Samsung outside of China and OPPO in China, Xiaomi saw demand for its 5G smartphones slow considerably in Q3 2021.”
