Apple Shipped Record Number of iPhones in Q4 2020

BY Rajesh Pandey

Published 28 Jan 2021

iPhone 12 Pro Shoot ProRAW

Apple stopped revealing the number of iPhone units it sells every quarter a couple of years ago. The company reported a blowout Q1 2021 earnings yesterday with revenues of over $100 billion, but did not reveal how many iPhones it sold. Now, as per analytics firm IDC, Apple shipped a staggering 90.1 million iPhones in the last quarter of 2020.

This represents a 22.2% YoY growth in shipments for Apple and allowed it to capture 23.4% of the market share. Apple also managed to achieve what no other smartphone OEM has managed to achieve so far — ship 90.1 million smartphones in a single quarter. For comparison, Apple had shipped 73.8 million iPhones in Q4 2019.

Apple’s numbers are higher than usual due to the delayed launch of the iPhone 12 series. Apple usually launches new iPhones in September but the pandemic forced the company to delay the launch by over a month to October. This was followed by a staggered launch that saw the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max hit the retail stores in the second week of November. Despite the delays, Apple shipping 90 million iPhones in one quarter highlights the success of the iPhone 12 series.

Samsung was the second-largest smartphone vendor in Q4 2020 and shipped 73.9 million devices to capture 19.1% of the market share. Its A-series handsets did well and the company registered growth across all major markets in the world.

Xiaomi came in third and shipped 43.3 million smartphones to capture 11.2% of the market share. OPPO was fourth and shipped 33.8 million smartphones. Both Xiaomi and OPPO capitalized on the ban on Huawei to post tremendous growth. As for Huawei, it occupied the fifth spot in the quarter by shipping 32.2 million smartphones — a decline of 42.4% YoY.

[Via IDC]