On February 9, MM Research Institute announced the results of a survey on the number of domestic mobile phone terminal shipments in 2021. According to it, the number of mobile phone handset shipments in 2021 will be 36.542 million units, an increase of 12.6% from the previous year. Smartphone sales increased by 12.2% year-on-year to 33.744 million units, of which 5G smartphones accounted for 58.1%, an increase of 37.3 points year-on-year.
The Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA) also announced on February 8 the number of mobile phone handset shipments in 2021, but JEITA statistics include manufacturers such as Apple and Samsung. Not something. MM Research Institute's research data also includes manufacturers not included in JEITA's statistics, making it more appropriate for understanding the current state of mobile phone handsets.
Total shipments increased 12.6% year-on-year to 36.542 million units. Feature phones will also increase
The total number of mobile phone handsets shipped in Japan in 2021 will be 36.542 million units, an increase of 12.6% from the previous year. Among them, smartphones accounted for 33.744 million units (up 12.2% year-on-year), surpassing the 31.994 million units shipped in 2017, which was the highest ever for a calendar year. On the other hand, the number of feature phones shipped was 2.798 million units, up 17.1% from the previous year, surpassing the growth rate of smartphones. This seems to be due to the demand for replacement with 4G compatible feature phones as au will terminate the 3G service at the end of March 2022.
The number of 5G smartphones has increased significantly. More than half of all smartphones
The breakdown of smartphone shipments shows that carrier shipments (NTT Docomo/au/Softbank/Rakuten Mobile, including sub-brands) accounted for 31.359 million units, or 92.9% of the total. Open shipments (including sales of MVNO SIM-free machines) accounted for 2.385 million units, accounting for 7.1% of the total. In terms of carrier shipments, UQ Mobile increased by 53.1% year-on-year, and Rakuten Mobile increased by 58.7% year-on-year. In the case of UQ Mobile, the expansion of handling at au shops, and in the case of Rakuten Mobile, the start of handling the iPhone series seems to be the factor.
The ratio of 4G compatible smartphones and 5G compatible smartphones increased significantly from 20.8% in the previous year to 58.1%, an increase of 37.3 points. It surpassed 4G smartphones.
Apple is No. 1 for 10 years in a row by manufacturer
By manufacturer, Apple has the top market share. Apple does not sell feature phones, but its total shipments, including feature phones, have a top share of 46.0% (up 2.9 percentage points from the previous year). Apple has been No. 1 for 10 consecutive years since 2012, and the number of shipments in 2021 will increase by 20.2% from the previous year to 16.815 million units. It surpassed the record high of 16.55 million units set in 2014 for the first time in seven years. Its share of smartphone shipments is 49.8% (up 3.3 percentage points from the previous year).
One of the factors behind Apple's strong performance is the release of all four models of the new iPhone 13 series in September (the previous year's iPhone 12 series was announced in October, and some models were delayed until November. ), Rakuten Mobile has started handling the iPhone, and the iPhone SE (2nd generation) has become the focus of each company's customer acquisition measures.
In terms of market share, including feature phones, 2nd place Sharp (4.501 million units / 12.3% share), 3rd place Kyocera (3.456 million units / 9.5%), 4th place Samsung Electronics (2.697 million units / 7.4%), 5th place FCNT (2.536 million units / 6.9%) followed by Sony (2.507 million units / 6.9%) in 6th place. Among the top manufacturers, Kyocera had the highest rate of increase from the previous year, with a result of 26.7% compared to the previous year. For the reasons mentioned above, the demand for 4G feature phones for au increased, and the popularity of "BASIO4" among users replacing feature phones contributed.
As mentioned above, the number one shipment of smartphones is Apple. 2nd place Sharp (3,884,000 units / 11.5% share), 3rd place Samsung Electronics (2,697,000 units / 8.0%), 4th place Sony (2,507,000 units / 7.4%), 5th place FCNT (2,083,000 units / 6.2%) ). Kyocera, which has a high ratio of feature phones, did not rank high, and FCNT also ranked lower than the whole. It is said that OPPO / Xiaomi is increasing the number of shipments out of the rank.
Looking at the market as a whole, 2021 was a good year, recording the highest number of shipments as mentioned above, partly because of the recoil from 2020, which stalled for a while due to the impact of the new corona. On the other hand, there are many issues for manufacturers in terms of selling prices, such as the popularity of terminals in the 20,000 to 30,000 yen range in the Android market. Manufacturers are required to secure sales volume and market share in the mid-to-low price range, while at the same time implementing brand strategies and creating high added value. The company expects that.
