Seoul, Jan 5 (IANS): Samsung Electronics is expected to remain the world's top smartphone producer this year, a report showed on Tuesday, though its market share is likely to go down as other brands will ramp up production with the recovery of mobile demand.

Global smartphone production was projected to increase 9 per cent on-year to 1.36 billion units in 2021, according to market researcher TrendForce, which predicted that device replacement demand and growth in emerging markets will lead to gradual recovery of the smartphone market, reports Yonhap news agency.

Samsung was forecast to make 267 million smartphones, or 19.6 per cent of global production, in 2021, TrendForce data showed.

Last year, the South Korean tech giant produced 264 million smartphones, accounting for 21 per cent of worldwide smartphone production.

Samsung was followed by Apple which was projected to produce 229 million units of iPhones in 2021, up 15 per cent from a year earlier. Its global market share in terms of production volume was estimated at 16.8 per cent, up from last year's 15.9 per cent.

China's Xiaomi was expected to move up one spot to rank third with a production volume of 198 million units in 2021, up 35.6 per cent from a year earlier.

However, its Chinese compatriot Huawei Technologies was forecast to see its ranking drop from third to seventh. Its smartphone production volume was estimated to plunge to 45 million units in 2021 from 170 million units a year ago due to US export restrictions and the spin-off of its Honor brand, according to TrendForce.

When it comes to the 5G smartphone market share in 2021, Samsung was estimated to make up 13 per cent of the market, up from 11 per cent in 2020.

Apple was expected to solidify its top status with a market share of 35 per cent, up from 31 per cent a year earlier.

Chinese phone brand Oppo was projected to rank second in this year's 5G smartphone market with a share of 14 per cent, up from 9 per cent in 2020.

TrendForce said global 5G smartphone production for 2021 is expected to be about 500 million units, up from last year's 240 million units. The penetration rate of 5G smartphones was projected to reach 37 per cent, up from 19 per cent in 2020.