Vivo, Oppo and Xiaomi were the top-3 handset vendors in China with the highest shipments throughout 2021. While Apple logged the highest annual growth in shipments last year, Honor, Coolpad and Realme were also rising fast.
According to data from the Chinese Academy of Information and Communication Technology (CAICT), total handset shipments into China in 2021 increased by 14% on-year to 351 million units. The proportion of 5G handsets increased from 64% in the previous year to 76% in 2021, or 266 million units.
Last year, handset shipments of Vivo, Oppo and Xiaomi grew respectively by 23%, 18%, and 31% on-year. Honor's handset shipments rose to the fifth highest at 38.6 million units. Realme's gaming products are expected to bring sales growth to 30% this year.
Coolpad has set up more than 3,200 stores in China and also renewed its efforts for online sales of handsets. Its own operating system Coolos differentiates Coolpad user experience from others.
Competition in China's handset market continues to heat up as more players join the market. But for 2022, shipments growth is expected to slow down due to COVID and recurrent lockdowns. Slowing demand could lead to improvements in component shortages, but the growing demand for higher performance-price ratio could further pressure component suppliers.
