iPhone 12 Mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max.
Todd Haselton | CNBC
Apple delivered more smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2020 than any other company, according to market research firm Gartner.
Apple delivered nearly 80 million units this quarter, surpassing all other smartphone makers, including Samsung. It is the first time that Apple is in the top since 2016, according to the report published on Monday.
Apple’s strong holiday quarter and new Gartner results continue to suggest that Apple’s family of iPhone 12 devices, with 5G capability and a new external design, is a success on the market. The results also suggest that Apple has withstood the coronavirus pandemic better than its smartphone competitors.
Last month, a competing estimate said that Apple delivered 90.1 million phones delivered in the same quarter, a figure that market researcher IDC said is the best quarter in the history of the smartphone, judged by deliveries.
Apple does not report unit sales for its devices. In the fourth quarter of the 2020 calendar, Apple reported iPhone sales of $ 65.6 billion, up 17% year-on-year. Apple’s business is seasonal, and the quarter ending in December is the company’s largest in terms of sales. The latest Apple iPhones have not even been on sale for the entire quarter.
The smartphone market fell 5.4% in 2020 amid the global coronavirus pandemic, according to the report, while Apple’s deliveries rose 3.3%. Samsung continued to deliver most devices over a one-year period.
The biggest drop on the table comes from Huawei, which fell 24.1% in 2020, although it was still the third largest manufacturer of smartphones in terms of volume. Huawei is fighting US sanctions that have significantly hindered its mobile phone business. Samsung does not face the same challenge, but has seen deliveries fall by 14.6% in 2020, according to Gartner.