It is not only Canalys that confirms Apple’s return to second place by beating Xiaomi in Q3 2021: a new report by IDC corroborates the same trend, where Apple is now in second place while Xiaomi falls back to third place in its own Q3 2021 report.

Both reports do confirm a decrease in overall smartphone shipment this year compared to the same period last year (-6.7% for IDC, -6% for Canalys), but is slightly different when it comes to market share per brand. In the IDC Q3 2021 report, Apple reflected a 3.5% increase in market share, while Xiaomi reflected a 0.3% decrease in market share.

This is contrary to the Canalys Q3 2021 report claiming that Xiaomi did not experience any change in market share from the same period last year. 

Another big difference between the reports of IDC and Canalys is how they reported Samsung’s market share. Canalys reported that Samsung’s market share remains unchanged from last year, while IDC reports a 1.9% decrease in market share for this year.

Differences in numbers aside, both IDC and Canalys agree that the ongoing chip shortage tool a toll on overall global smartphone shipments. “The supply chain and component shortage issues have finally caught up to the smartphone market, which until now seemed almost immune to this issue despite its adverse impact on many other adjacent industries,”  IDC research director Nabila Popal said.

“Despite all efforts to mitigate the impact, all major vendors’ production targets for the fourth quarter have been adjusted downwards. With continued strong demand, we don’t anticipate the supply-side issues to ease until well into next year,” Popal adds.