Samsung to lead in smartphone production beating Apple

Samsung Electronics is expected to regain the top spot in global smartphone production from Apple in the first quarter of the year riding on its flagship Galaxy S21 series.
Samsung Galaxy A8+ in IndiaSamsung is estimated to produce 62 million smartphones in the January-March period and account for 18.1 percent of global smartphone production, according to TrendForce.

Apple is expected to drop to the second spot with 54 million units, or a market share of 15.8 percent, in the first three months of 2021.

Apple was the leading smartphone maker in the fourth quarter of 2020 after it rolled out 77.6 million units of iPhones, beating Samsung’s production of 67 million units.

Xiaomi is projected to become the third-largest smartphone producer in the first quarter of 2021, with a share of 15.2 percent.

OPPO, which includes OnePlus and Realme devices, is expected to become the top fourth-largest player with a share of 15.1 percent. Huawei Technologies will have 7.7 percent share.

Global smartphone production is likely to grow at 25 percent to 342 million units in the first quarter of 2021.

The global smartphone production volume is forecast to increase at 9 percent to 1.36 billion units in 2021.