Apple had the largest share in the smartphone market at the end of 2020 thanks to iPhone 12

Apple had the largest market share in the delivery of smartphones at the end of 2020, followed by Samsung. That is what research bureaus IDC and Canalys calculate. Viewed over the whole of 2020, Samsung occupies the top position.

According to IDC estimates, Apple delivered 90.1 million smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2020, thanks to the success of the iPhone 12, a 22.2 percent growth compared to the same period a year earlier. Samsung follows with a market share of 19.1 percent. Xiaomi’s market share rose by a whopping 32 percent to 11.2 percent. The big loser was next IDC Huawei, which saw its share plummet by 42.4 percent. Total smartphone shipments increased 4.3 percent and IDC attributes this to lockdowns, which have reduced people’s spending on travel and outings, benefiting smartphone sales.

Looking at 2020 as a whole, according to the researcher, Samsung was still the market leader, but its share fell by almost 10 percent, while Apple, the number two, saw its market share increase by 7.9 percent. Huawei’s market share declined by 21.5 percent in 2020, mainly due to the impact of trade barriers.

The estimates of research agency Canalys show a somewhat different picture. Apple’s market share also increased in this company’s market research, but less. In fact, Samsung’s market share fell sharply and Xiaomi took advantage of this, increasing its market share from 9 percent at the end of 2019 to 12 percent at the end of 2020. Huawei falls completely out of the top five at Canalys for the first time in six years, and the total smartphone deliveries fell slightly by 2 percent, with the research firm pointing to the consequences of the corona crisis.

There are several agencies that estimate deliveries in the smartphone market, and they use different methods for those estimates, which can vary considerably. Not all manufacturers provide figures on their deliveries.