Apple regains global smartphone lead for the first time in 5 years, ahead of Samsung

Apple shipped more smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2020 than any other company, including its rival, Samsung.

This is the first time since 2016 that Apple has been on top of the worldwide smartphone sales chart.

According to Gartner smartphone sales report, smartphone sales declined worldwide by 5% in the fourth quarter of 2020, as Apple secured the top spot for the first time since 2016.

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The launch of the 5G iPhone 12 series helped Apple record double-digit growth in the fourth quarter of 2020 surpassing Samsung to retake the No. 1 global smartphone vendor spot.

Samsung has been on the top spot for a few years, but after Apple released the new iPhone 12 models, Apple surpassed Samsung with 20.8% of the global smartphone market in the fourth quarter.

Samsung came second on the chart with a 16.2% market share followed by Xiaomi with 11.3%, OPPO with an 8.9% market share before Huawei.

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Due to the ban on the use of Google applications on Huawei’s smartphones, the company recorded the highest decline among the top five smartphone vendors which negatively affected its sales.

Samsung showed a decline in sales in 2020. while Apple was one of the few, along with Xiaomi, that showed growth over the entire year.

According to CNBC, Apple shipped nearly 80 million units in the quarter, surpassing all other smartphone makers including Samsung. Apple’s business is seasonal and the quarter ending in December is the company’s biggest in terms of sales.