Knocking Samsung off the top of the leaderboard, Apple reigns as the top smartphone maker in the world, following the introduction of its 5G-supported iPhone 12.
Despite a 5.4 percent decline in the sales of smartphones globally in Q4 2020, Apple shot to the top.
In full year 2020, smartphone sales fell by 12.5 percent.
According to Gartner, a research firm, Apple’s last lead on the league of top smartphone makers was 2016, trailing behind Samsung.
Samsung recorded a year-on-year decline of 14.6 percent in 2020, facing tough competition from brands like OPPO, Xiaomi, and Vivo.
Gartner stated in its report that “In 2020, Apple and Xiaomi were the only two smartphone vendors of the top-five ranking to experience growth.”
Apple smartphone sales in the fourth quarter of 2020 was almost 80 million, cornering 20.8 percent of the market in the period under review.
Its success bests its 2019 report in the period under review with over 10 million sold units, recording a market share of 17.1 percent in 2019.
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A senior research director at Gartner Anshul Gupta said, “The sales of more 5G smartphones and lower-to-mid-tier smartphones minimized the market decline in the fourth quarter of 2020.
“Even as consumers remained cautious in their spending and held off on some discretionary purchases, 5G smartphones and pro-camera features encouraged some end users to purchase new smartphones or upgrade their current smartphones in the quarter.”
Among the top five smartphone brands, Huawei saw a sharp drop, falling behind Apple.
This drop, as reported by Gartner, was credited to the ban on the use of Google apps on Huawei smartphones, impacting negatively on its sales performance.
