Apple beats Samsung to become the biggest smartphone player in Q4 2020

Apple has beaten Samsung to emerge as the biggest smartphone player in the fourth quarter of 2020, all credits goes to the iPhone 12 models, the first to feature next-generation 5G capability.

The tech giant shipped 81.9 million iPhone units in the last quarter of last year, according to Counterpoint Research, which helped Apple to crush the competition. Another research firm, Canalys, reached a similar conclusion.

Counterpoint Research said Apple held the number one spot in the global smartphone market in Q4 2020, beating Samsung and Xiaomi. The acceptance of the iPhone 12 series, especially in the US, and strong sales of the iPhone 11 are some of the reasons why Apple has done phenomenally well in the last three months of the year.

On Wednesday, Apple’s earnings report for the last three months offered a clear picture of how the iPhone 12 is performing in the market. Strong sales of the iPhone, especially the iPhone 12 series, has helped Apple to post $114 billion in revenue. iPhone sales were impressive. Apple’s iPhone sales during the last quarter totalled $65.6 billion, a 17 per cent increase from the same time in the previous year.

Even though Apple delayed the launch of its latest iPhone 12 series, despite that, consumers flocked to Apple stores to buy the new iPhones. The fact that Apple managed to sell over 81.9 million iPhone units in the last quarter shows the consumer interest in the iPhone, despite the global pandemic. Apple said there are now more than 1 billion active iPhones, a key milestone for the company.

Samsung, however, slowed down a bit in Q4 2020. The South Korean major managed to ship 62.5 million units in the last quarter versus iPhone’s 81.9 million units. Analysts say strong sales of iPhone 12 was the reason why Samsung fell to the number two spot in the global smartphone tally in the final quarter of last year.

Huawei, on the other hand, fell to the number sixth spot in the last quarter. Sales of smartphones fell to 33.0 million units, a decline of 35 per cent year over year. The Chinese tech company has been struggling to survive after the US restricted access to the key components and software that are needed to make a smartphone.

c Huawei recently sold its Honor phone business to the newly-formed Shenzhen Zhixin New Information Technology Co., a consortium of partners and government-backed businesses.