Apple has been the third-largest smartphone seller for a year and for the first time in the third quarter of 2020. It dropped out of the top three. Unexpectedly, however, in the last quarter of 2020, Apple snatched the title of the world's number one company from Samsung.
Earlier, in the second quarter of 2020, Huawei had the honor of becoming the world's number one company for the first time, but in the third quarter, Samsung regained it.
According to a report by smartphone markets data company IDC, Apple has beaten Samsung in the fourth quarter of 2020. Between October 1 and December 31, 2020, global smartphone sales increased by 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year.
A total of 385.9 million smartphones were sold during the period, including more than 90 million Apple iPhones.
The first nine months of 2020 saw a significant drop in global smartphone sales due to the Coronavirus epidemic, but the year ended positively. As a result of the iPhone 12, the last 3 months of 2020 proved to be the best for Apple, as a result of which the company's phone sales in 2020 were 22.2% higher than in 2019.
Overall, Apple's market share was 23.4%, while Samsung was second with 73.9 million phones sold, with a market share of 19.1%.
After a long time, Xiaomi dropped out of the top 3 companies, while at the end of the year after the third quarter, Xiaomi remained the third largest smartphone company in the world. The company sold 43.4 million smartphones and had a market share of 11.2%, while its phone sales increased by 32% during the year.
Oppo ranked fourth with 33.8 million units sold, while sales of its phones rose 10.7% year-on-year. The last quarter of the year proved to be the worst for Huawei, with 32.3 million phones sold and ranked 5th. As a result, US sanctions, sales of Huawei's phones fell by more than 42% in 2020 compared to 2019.
Overall, Samsung ranked number one in smartphone sales in 2020, followed by Apple at number two, Huawei at number three, Xiaomi at number four and Vivo at number five.
Samsung sold more than 266.7 million phones during the year with a market share of 20.6%, but South Korean devices' sales were down 9.8% from 2019. Apple sold more than 206.1 million iPhones during the year with a market share of 15.9%, compared to 7.9% more in 2019. Sales of Huawei's phones fell by more than 21%; thus, US sanctions, to 189 million.
Overall, more than 1.29 billion smartphones were sold during the year, down 5.9% from 2019. However, the Corona epidemic's gradual control is expected to lead to a significant increase in smartphone sales in 2021.