Global iPhone production reportedly set a new all-time record in the holiday quarter, Apple managing to balance huge demand for the iPhone 13 line-up with a well-managed supply chain operation to minimize the impact of component shortages.
Two additional factors were at play for Apple, according to market intelligence company TrendForce …
TrendForce tells us that iPhone production is estimated to have reached over 85M units.
In addition to the demand for iPhone 13 models, the company said that Apple’s price reductions on older models helped.
After unveiling the iPhone 13 series in September, Apple started aggressively ramping up the shipments of these new devices to meet market demand. Owing to its fast-paced sales and marketing rhythms, Apple has been able to take first place in the quarterly ranking of smartphone brands by production market hare for many fourth quarters, and 4Q21 was no exception.
Besides maintaining its top position in the fourth-quarter brand ranking, Apple raised its quarterly iPhone production to a new record high of 85.5 million units, a 66.0% QoQ increase.
Finally, Apple was able to take advantage of the vacuum left by Chinese firm Huawei, the firm’s smartphone division effectively destroyed by import bans in many countries over national security concerns.
In the aspect of pricing strategy, the prices of the new iPhone 13 models were reasonable for consumers, while the price reductions for the older iPhone models were noticeable as well.
Strategy Analytics yesterday reported that 2021 European iPhone growth was 11%.
The capturing of the market share left by Huawei can be considered as the main factor behind Apple’s stellar performance in 4Q21. Over time, the orders for Huawei’s flagship models (i.e., the P and Mate series) have been gradually replaced by iPhone orders.
In terms of annual production, Apple reached 233 million units for 2021, up from almost 200 million units for 2020. The growth was mainly attributed to an expansion of Apple’s market share in China from 10% to 16%.
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