The global smartphone market returned to 4.3 percent growth in the 2020 holiday quarter (4Q20). Smartphone vendors shipped a total of 385.9 million devices during the period according to the primary data from International Data Corporation (IDC)’s.
2020 had a steep drop of 5.9 percent in the market compared to 2019, so IDC believes that there should be a period for regaining the market and it should be in 2021.
“There are several factors at play that are accelerating the recovery of the smartphone market – pent-up demand, continuous supply push on 5G, aggressive promotions, and the popularity of low- to mid-priced phones, said Nabila Popal, research director with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers.
Vendors seem to be well prepared for the second lockdown, ensuring that the right channel is set up to fulfill orders and reach the end customer. At Lockdowns, people spend less on entertainment, travel, and dining – and smartphones take advantage of this.
“In addition to all these factors, some credit should be given to the rapid recovery and defense of the smartphone supply chain,” Popal said.
In the case of vendors, there was a clear change in the top 5. Apple an amazing performance in 4Q20, came back to the number 1 with a shipment of 90.1 million devices, led by the success of the iPhone 12 series. This represents the highest export volume from a single vendor in a quarter, with a market share of 23.4% and an annual growth of 22.2%.
Samsung moved up to a second-place with 73.9 million device exports and 19.1% market share. With the continued success of the A-Series and growth in almost all regions, Samsung grew 6.2 percent year-over-year. Xiaomi is in third place with a shipment of 43.3 million and with a market share of 11.2 percent. OPPO was fourth with 33.8 million exports and an 8.8 percent market share.
Both companies have successfully exploited Huawei exports, it is growing at 32.0 percent and 10.7 percent per annum respectively, by focusing on aggressive product portfolios and building partnerships.
Huawei came in 5th position with 32.3 million exports and an 8.4 percent market share. The company continues to suffer due to the weight of the U.S. embargo and has fallen 42.4% year-on-year.
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