iPhone 12 Mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max.
Todd Haselton | CNBC
According to market research firm Gartner, Apple shipped more smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2020 than any other company.
Apple shipped about 80 million units in the quarter, surpassing the rest of the smartphone makers, including Samsung. According to the report released on Monday, it is the first time that Apple ranks first since 2016.
Apple’s strong holiday quarter and new Gartner results continue to suggest that Apple’s iPhone 12 family of devices, with 5G capacity and a new external design, is a hit in the market. The results also suggest that Apple has withstood the coronavirus pandemic better than its smartphone competitors.
Last month, a competition estimate said Apple shipped 90.1 million phones during the same quarter, a figure that market researcher IDC said was the best quarter in smartphone history. according to shipments.
Apple does not report unit sales of its devices. In the fourth quarter of the 2020 calendar, Apple recorded $ 65.6 billion in iPhone sales, up 17% year-on-year. Apple’s business is seasonal and the quarter ending in December is the company’s most important in terms of sales. Apple’s latest iPhones weren’t even on sale all quarter.
According to the report, the smartphone market fell 5.4% in 2020 amid the global coronavirus pandemic, while Apple shipments grew 3.3%. Samsung still shipped the most devices over a one-year period.
The biggest drop in the table comes from Huawei, which fell 24.1% in 2020, while still being the third-largest smartphone maker by volume. Huawei is struggling with U.S. sanctions that have significantly hampered its phone business. Samsung does not face the same challenge, but saw shipments fall 14.6% in 2020, according to Gartner.