Global smartphone sales grew a healthy 22% year-over-year as Q1 2021 numbers saw a 26% rise in sales after a difficult year for phone makers in 2020 because of the pandemic. Samsung topped the market share top 5, followed by Apple.

According to Anshul Gupta, senior research director at Gartner, "The improvement in consumer outlook, sustained learning and working from home, along with pent-up demand from 2020 boosted sales of smartphones in the first quarter. Consumers started spending on discretionary items as the pandemic situation improved in many parts of the world and markets opened up."

“However, one cannot ignore that the base for comparison is also lower in 2020, than it was in 2019. This explains the double-digit growth,” added Gupta.

There was no shuffle in the top 3 pack in the first quarter of 2021. Samsung topped the list with a 20.3% market share in Q1 2021, followed by Apple with a 15.5% share.

As per Gartner, Samsung’s unit sales globally were driven by the launch of mid-priced smartphones. The early shipping of its flagship 5G smartphones also had a big impact on its sales growth.

Apple, after securing the top spot in the fourth quarter of 2020 slipped back to the second position in the first quarter of 2021.

“5G will continue to be the major growth driver for Apple in 2021. Device upgrades will fuel demand for Apple’s flagship phone throughout the year,” said Gupta.

Xiaomi filled up third spot with a 12.9% market share. Vivo and OPPO each held a 10.2% market share. "All of the top five global smartphone vendors registered strong year over year growth over 2020 indicating that the phone market is consolidating around the top five vendors," Gartner said.

Chinese stalwarts Xiaomi, OPPO and Vivo witnessed a growing demand for 5G smartphones and capitalised on the opportunities due to Huawei and LG seeing a dip in sales globally during the quarter.

The smartphone industry has not yet been impacted by the global chip shortage as the demand and supply equilibrium is met. However, this may change in the coming quarters leading to an increase in the average selling price of smartphones globally.