HOW MANY MOBILE PHONES ARE SOLD EACH YEAR?

[Graphical Data: Sources 1-4]

According to trend analyst Statista, there were a total of 1747.8 million mobile phones sold in 2021. This is an increase on the 2020 sales statistics, which shows that 1649.1 million mobile phones fell into the hands of new owners. However, the highest-selling year since 2009 was 2018, in which brands shipped 1820.4 million handsets worldwide.

In total, between 2009 and 2021, over 22.4 billion mobile phones have been sold globally!

[Graphical Data: Sources 1-2]

As the data shows, according to Statista, 2021 saw global smartphone sales reaching 1510.3 million units. 2019 was the highest-selling year since 2009, yielding 1532.0 million smartphone sales. SellCell projects that 2023 smartphone sales will exceed 2019's record, with sales anticipated to reach 1594.0 million.

The total number of smartphones sold between 2009 and 2021 stands at 14007.6 million, and counting.

[Graphical Data: Sources 3-4]

2021 saw feature phone sales decline to a record low, with sales only reaching 237.5 million. While this might still seem a lot, it is nothing like the 1302.8 million feature phones sold in 2011. Since then, feature phone purchases have steadily decreased while the popularity of the smartphone has taken hold.

Between 2009-2021, non-smartphone/feature phone sales have reached 8403.1 million in total.

[Graphical Data: Sources 2-3]

2021 sales data shows that China is the largest market when it comes to smartphone sales. An astounding 436.9 million of all mobile phones sold in 2021 ended up in the hands of Chinese consumers.

India follows with 209.0 million, and if you're wondering how many phones sold in the US in 2021, the answer is 136.8 million, making the US the third-largest territory for phone brands.

These trends continue historically, with China buying 417.2 and 462.3 million phones in 2020 and 2019 respectively.

The 2021 figure shows sales reaching 27.5 million for the UK, an increase in UK phone sales compared to 2020, when brands sold 25.4 million phones.

[Graphical Data: Sources 5, 6 & 8]

The data analysis above tells us that the number of iPhones sold in 2022 amounted to 226.4 million. 2021 saw sales of 242 million marking a record-breaking year for the smartphone giant, while the previous highest-selling year for Apple was 2015, with 231.2 million iPhones leaving the shelves.

This brings the total number of iPhones sold between 2007 and 2022 to 2.3 billion!

[Graphical Data: Source 7-8]

As you can see from the Statista / IDC data above, Samsung sold the most handsets in 2022, moving 260.9 million units. Apple follows a close second with 226.4 million iPhones, so 2022 could see the scales tipping in Apple's favor.

Xiaomi follows up in third position, selling 153.1 million handsets in 2021; the most aside from Samsung and Apple, making Xiaomi a real contender for the big two.

Looking back historically, we can see that RIM (now known as BlackBerry) and Nokia dominated the phone market back in 2007. However, the advent of the smartphone saw the demise of Nokia and BlackBerry's efforts, and both brands started falling from popularity in 2008, as Apple's notoriety grew.

By 2011, Apple's sales had increased by almost 30 times their 2007 sales figure of 3.3 million, with the brand selling 93.1 million phones in 2011.

Samsung's sales have remained strong, and the brand has taken the leading position sales-wise since 2011, when it sold 94.2 million. 2021 saw Samsung selling 272.0 million smartphones.

[Graphical Data: Source 9]

So what does the data tell us? Well on average 4.53 million cell phones are made per day in China. The highest number of cell phones made per day was 6.03 million in November 2019. The lowest number was 2.35 million cell phones per day in January/February 2020. This figure will have been heavily impacted by the Chinese New Year and the pandemic. Outside of this, the lowest number was 3.57 million cell phones per day in May 2020.

[Graphical Data: Sources 1-4]

Looking at the years where we have actual data as opposed to forecasted (2009 - 2021) the average number of mobile phones sold per day is 4.72 million units. In 2021 there were on average 4.79 million mobile phones sold per day. The year with the highest daily average was 2014 (5.08 million units). We project that by 2027 the daily average will reach 5.11 million.

Answering the question of how many iPhones are made in a day is more difficult than you might expect. Firstly you need to understand that Apple buys many of the components that go into iPhones from more than 200 approved suppliers around the world. Apple then sells these components to one of its contracted manufacturers. In China, this means Foxconn which is actually a Taiwanese company that runs the Zhengzhou facility.

Foxconn's manufacturing facility in Zhengzhou is colossal covering 2.2 square miles and employing 350,000 workers. What they do here is known as final assembly, testing and packaging (F.A.T.P.). The facility can produce a staggering 500,000 iPhones a day, which equates to roughly 350 iPhones per minute!

[Data: Source 9]

Google have sold 27.6 million Google Pixel since 2016. That is the combined figure for the first 6 generations of Google Pixel. Put another way, that number represents just 10% of Samsungs 2021 sales and at that rate it would take Google 60 years to sell as many phones as Samsung does in a single year.

Less than 5 million Pixel 6, 6 Pro and 6a were sold between October 2021 and September 2022; 90% of those sales came in the first 6 months.

The Google Pixel 3 was the most successful generation of Google Pixel with Google selling roughly 9 million units.

With sales of just 2 million units the Google Pixel 5 was the most unsuccessful generation of Google Pixel.

[Data: Source 10]

Infographic of above data - click below