Analysts say the iPhone remains the most popular smartphone in the U.S., with Apple dominating the market throughout 2021. The U.S. has long been one of the most popular markets for Apple’s iPhone lineup, and it’s a reliable major source of overall revenue for Apple.
For most of the past four quarters, Apple actually captured almost half of the U.S. regional market, according to Counterpoint Research’s analysis.
Data provided by Counterpoint covering the full year of 2021 shows that from the first quarter of 2021 to the fourth quarter of 2021, Apple accounted for just over 50% of US smartphone shipments. In the first quarter of this year, it opened higher with a 55% market share in a market that grew 14% year over year.
That number then dipped slightly to a 53% share in the second quarter, but Apple’s shipments rose 38%, and while the iPhone SE capacity shortage clearly hampered growth, the U.S. smartphone market as a whole saw shipments It was still up 21% during this period.
In the third quarter of 2021, the smartphone market will see slower growth in the off-season, growing by only 1% year on year. Despite having a 47% market share, Apple’s shipments were still up 19% year-over-year thanks to the strong launch of the iPhone 13 series.
In the fourth quarter, Apple’s market share in the U.S. rose to 56% as industry shipments recovered and grew 10% year-on-year. While Apple still had the majority of the market at the time, it still fell short of the 65% share it had in the fourth quarter of 2020 a year earlier.
Apple’s closest competitor is Samsung, but it only peaked at 34% in the third quarter of 2021, shrinking to 22% in the fourth quarter. According to analysts, Samsung “couldn’t restock its Galaxy S21 series quickly”, which contributed to the loss of market share.
The iPhone was not only a considerable success in the United States. In January, Counterpoint claimed that Apple had also seen a recovery in China, where its 23% market share in the fourth quarter of 2021 was the highest since the fourth quarter of 2015.