Apple has moved back into the top slot in terms of smartphone sales thanks to a 2020 holiday boost from consumers worldwide, including China. It comes as no surprise that Apple moved into the position as the big names in smartphones tend to flip the slot every year.
This year’s bigger news is that Apple overtook Huawei and even Chinese consumers purchased more iPhones than normal. The South China Morning Post reports that Huawei tumbled in the global smartphone rankings due to US sanctions.
The Post also reports that smartphone manufactures, including Apple, shipped 4% more units in the fourth quarter of 2020, hitting nearly 386 million units. That’s a ton of smartphones.
Analysts at Canalys placed Huawei’s ranking even lower at the sixth place, marking the first time in six years that the Chinese giant has fallen outside the top five.
More than half of those shipments went to China, where Huawei retained the top spot but saw its market share drop 22 percent from 41 percent in the third quarter, Canalys figures showed. Those shipments included handsets made by Honor, the sub-brand that Huawei sold in November.
“It is possibly Huawei’s toughest time as it is restrained to even serve its home market,” said Canalys vice-president of mobility Nicole Peng in a report.
“Huawei’s sell-in shipments shrunk by nearly half sequentially despite the huge demand for Huawei devices, as the vendor is unable to fulfill this demand in the foreseeable future. Other vendors are eyeing this opportunity.”
South China Morning Post
Huawei had been the world’s number one smartphone seller, but the sanctions have taken a toll. According to the Post, Apple had a stellar sales year in China, which hasn’t happened since 2018. Check out the full report on the Post’s website.
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Last Updated on February 3, 2021.
