Global smartphone shipments had already begun to shrink ahead of 2020, though two years of a pandemic and the resulting supply chain and chip constraints certainly didn’t help the overall figures. According to a pair of reports from Counterpoint Research and IDC, however, the market finally experienced growth last year for first time since 2017.
Counterpoint puts the overall year-over-year growth at 4%, with a slightly more optimistic 5.7% from IDC. Both firms, however, point to a decline for Q4, at 6% and 3.2%, respectively. The decline was to be expected, of course, given continued chip shortages, which have been having an outsized impact on smaller manufacturers with less leverage over the supply chain than firms like Apple and Samsung.
Both firms put Samsung at top spot for the year, with a 6% increase, and Apple taking the No. 2 spot. The firms also echo a recent report from Canalys that had Apple winning the quarter. Apple confirmed those sentiments with an excellent quarterly earnings report, fueled i …
