Apple gains customers during a chip shortage even as iPhone 13 production hit a snag

Apple weathered the supply crunch better than many other companies due to its massive purchasing power even though iPhone 13 production hit a snag.

A woman wearing a face mask walks past an image of an iPhone 13 Pro at an Apple Store in Beijing, China. (REUTERS)

Apple Inc is eating into its rivals' smartphone market share as the iPhone maker navigates through a global chip crunch better than other mobile phone makers, according to data providers.

Higher iPhone shipments helped Apple gain at least 3% market share in global smartphones in the third quarter, even as overall shipments shrunk by about 6% due to the chip shortage, according to data from market research firms Counterpoint, IDC and Canalys.

Given how closely tech companies guard smartphone sales data, the shipment figures are the best indication of who customers prefer.

"We are expecting another massive quarter for Apple and our expectation is they'll take a similar 20% shipment share in calendar year Q4," Counterpoint analyst Tarun Pathak said.

Apple has weathered the supply crunch better than many other companies due to its massive purchasing power and long-term supply agreements with chip vendors even though iPhone 13 production hit a snag due to factory closures in Asia and high demand in the second half of the year.

"Shortages are worst at the low-end, so Apple is less exposed than many of its competitors because it skews heavily toward premium," Ben Stanton, analyst at Canalys, told Reuters.

The shipments of pricier phones drove revenue to a record $100 billion in the third quarter, according to Counterpoint.

The Cupertino, California-based company's supply prowess was displayed in China where it posted a staggering 83% annual sales growth last quarter, remaining one of top choices for big spenders in the world's second-largest economy.

Apple increased shipments in the third quarter, while market leader Samsung Electronics and rival Xiaomi Corp saw a drop as customers were lured by the price cuts to the iPhone 12 series and the faster processor and bigger camera in the latest iPhone 13 devices.

Microsoft Closes on Apple in Race for World's Most Valuable Listed Firm

(Bloomberg) -- A blowout first quarter has brought Microsoft Corp. back into contention in the race for the world's most-valuable listed company.

The software behemoth is less than $60 billion away from dethroning Apple Inc. for the first time since May 2020, based on a 3.1% gain in early U.S. trading. That gives Microsoft a market value of $2.40 trillion compared with $2.46 trillion for Apple.

The stock was boosted after Microsoft reported estimate-topping results for an 11th straight quarter. Several analysts raised their price targets, saying the earnings were very strong across the board.

“Sustaining 22% revenue growth at a more than $180 billion run rate provides compelling evidence of solid secular positioning across the portfolio,” Morgan Stanley analyst Keith Weiss wrote in a note.

Microsoft is trading at a 20% premium to the technology-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index, though hasn't beaten Apple in the market value race since the iPhone maker overtook Saudi Aramco for the top spot in July 2020.

The contest's next catalyst may be Apple's fourth-quarter results due Thursday. Analysts have been highlighting the possible impact on the key holiday quarter of reported cuts to iPhone 13 production targets for 2021.