It has emerged that due to the major disruptions caused by a global pandemic, smartphone production has decreased by 11% during 2020. As reported by Trend Force, they blame the turbulent year alongside bans on Huawei products for this decrease.
This news is hardly surprising as we had received a number of indications throughout the year figures like this would occur. Back in may a report showed a record fall in smartphone production during Q2 across the world.
Following this Samsung announced that the pandemic had hit their production levels hard. During April the largest smartphone manufacturer cut production by 60%. This demonstrated just how devastating this year has been.
The trading bans on Huawei have also had a large impact on global smartphone production levels. As GSM Arena reports, the market is expected to bounce back next year. However, Huawei is unlikely to recover and could plummet further following these global restrictions.
Global smartphone production took a hit in 2020
During 2020 smartphone manufactures were able to produce 1.25 billion devices. However, this amounted to a significant decrease on last year’s figures as mentioned.
The top six manufacturers were Samsung, Apple, Huawei, Oppo, and Vivo. However, Huawei found themselves worst hit by the pandemic and trade restrictions as their access to chips was cut.
There is some more hope for the market as many predict there to be a rebound in 2021. Experts predict a 9% increase in production next year which would bring production up to 1.36 billion units. However, this would still fall some way below 2019 levels.
Despite an overall recovery, experts predict a grim 2021 for Huawei. Many expect the Chinese company to fall out of the top five manufacturers losing a significant market share as a result. Huawei currently holds 13% of the global market but many think this could fall as low as 3% in 2021 due to trade restrictions.
5G is also a major talking point and experts expect it to be a large factor in 2021. Predictions are for its penetration to rise to 37% during 2021. Despite this production is still expected to be limited due to foundry capacities.
All in all, it is safe to say 2020 was a difficult year for smartphone manufactures as it was for many of us. However, the expectation is that 2021 will be the year of rebuilding. Here’s to hoping that this will come to fruition with things returning to normality globally sooner rather than later. However, the predictions for Huawei remain bleak and how the company reacts will be intriguing to follow.