Apple has become the world’s leading smartphone brand after it achieved record shipments of its iPhones. The company saw a notable jump in shipments in the fourth and final quarter of last year, while Huawei sees a major decline.
According to a Counterpoint Research report, the Cupertino based giant witnessed a sizeable jump of 22 percent in terms of shipments during this quarter. The company’s great sales are most likely carried by its newly launched iPhone 12 series, which is its first 5G enabled lineup. Furthermore, the boost in sales was also helped by pent up market demand, especially for people looking to upgrade from their older Apple iPhone models.
During Q4 2020, Apple iPhone shipments crossed 90 million units, which is a record compared to any other quarter. This also gave the company a global market share of 23.4 percent. Canalys analyst Nicole Peng added that “In China, Apple seized the perfect opportunity to capture Huawei’s market share in the high end, when the latter has essentially not enough supply even though demand for the brand is still there.” As per Apple CEO Tim Cook in an interview with Reuters, “We had two of the top three selling smartphones in urban China.”
The fourth quarter is usually the strongest for the company owing to its launch of new iPhones during the second half of a year. Apple overtook Samsung, despite the South Korean brand also seeing a 6.2 percent rise year on year, reaching 73.9 million units and achieving a market share of 19.1 percent. Meanwhile, Huawei saw a drastic impact on its shipments due to US sanctions, which had its shipments plummet by a record 42.4 percent to 32.3 million units.
RELATED:
- Apple Watch saves the life of a British cyclist caught in a flooded river
- Apple sees its best quarter performance in India, doubles its iPhone sales in Q4 2020
- Apple to launch 2nd Gen AirPods Pro in first half of 2021: Report
