As usual, the best-selling smartphone chart for 2021 is dominated by iPhones. As many as seven iPhones made it into the top ten. That’s two more than 2020. Those two spots were occupied by Samsung phones last year. This year, Samsung had only one more device in the top ten — the Galaxy A02 at the tenth spot. It sold 18.3 million units at an ASP of $138. The Redmi 9A is the only other Android smartphone on this list, featuring at the fifth spot sandwiched between a bunch of iPhones. This Xiaomi smartphone is the cheapest on the list, having an ASP of just $78. It sold 26.8 million units last year. So the Galaxy A12 sold more than the next two best-selling Android smartphones combined in 2021. As for iPhones, we have the iPhone 12 at the top, followed by the iPhone 13 and iPhone 11 — a 2019 model. The other four best-selling iPhone models are the iPhone 12 Pro Max, iPhone 13 Pro Max, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 13 Pro, in that order. The total sales volume of these seven iPhones is over 200 million units. Unsurprisingly, the iPhone 13 Pro Max had the highest ASP of $1,324.
Androids can’t get near iPhones in the premium market
As you can see in the attached chart below, the seven most-popular iPhones in 2021 all had an ASP of more than $600. This shows Apple’s dominance in the premium smartphone market. Android manufacturers can’t get near the Cupertino-based giant. Even 2019 iPhone models are out-selling the latest Android flagships. “Apple’s dominance in the premium market is getting stronger, as consumers’ demand for premium smartphones has increased as the pandemic situation has eased,” said Jusy Hong, Senior Research Manager at Omdia. Samsung, the world’s largest smartphone maker, didn’t have its best year in the flagship market in 2021. Things are looking a bit brighter for the Korean giant this year. The Galaxy S22 series is seeing an overwhelming demand in its early days. The Galaxy S22 Ultra — or should we say Galaxy ‘Note’ 22 — is the best-selling model thanks to its native S Pen support, which caters to those Note fans who had been ignored by Samsung last year. By the looks of it, if any Android flagship can make it into the top ten best-selling smartphones of 2022, then it’s the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. Time will tell.
