IDC: 2020 Q4 smartphone rankings: Xiaomi and OPPO grab market share from Huawei

 On the morning of January 28, data agency IDC recently released a quarterly report on global mobile phone manufacturers. According to this data, smartphone manufacturers sold a total of 385.9 million devices in the fourth quarter of 2020. Although the full year of 2020 fell by 5.9% compared to 2019, the progress of market recovery is impressive, and IDC believes that the momentum will remain strong entering 2021.

IDC announces global smartphone market shipments by brand in 2020

　　An IDC official said: "There are many factors driving the recovery of the smartphone market: potential demand, the promotion of 5G, active promotions, and the popularity of mid- and low-priced mobile phones. Manufacturers also seem to be better prepared for the second lockdown, ensuring that they have prepared channels and let their products reach consumers. Staying at home has reduced people's spending on leisure, travel, and dining out, and smartphones will benefit from this. In addition to all these factors, the rapid recovery of the smartphone supply chain is also commendable."

IDC releases global smartphone market shipments for the fourth quarter of 2020

　　In terms of manufacturer shipments and market share, there has been a clear shift in the top five. Driven by the success of the iPhone 12 series, Apple performed well in the fourth quarter of 20 and returned to the first place with shipments of 90.1 million units. This was the largest shipment among all manufacturers in the quarter, bringing Apple a 23.4% market share and a 22.2% year-on-year increase in shipments.

　　Samsung ranked second with 73.9 million devices shipped and a market share of 19.1%. Samsung's year-on-year shipment growth was 6.2%, driven by the continued success of the A series and growth in almost every region.

　　Xiaomi ranked third with 43.3 million units shipped and 11.2% market share, while OPPO ranked fourth with 33.8 million units shipped and 8.8% market share. Through more perfect product portfolios and supply chain relationships, both companies have successfully grabbed Huawei's original share, with year-on-year shipment growth of 32.0% and 10.7% respectively.

　　Huawei ranked fifth with 32.3 million units shipped and a market share of 8.4%. As Huawei is still subject to US sanctions, its shipments fell sharply by 42.4% year-on-year.

　　Ryan Reith, program vice president of IDC's Global Mobile Devices program, said: "The recovery of the smartphone market and its supply chain is truly impressive, and the growth at the end of the year proves this. Most parts of the world are in some form of lockdown or are still waiting to return to normal life, but smartphone sales are rebounding as if nothing had happened. This illustrates the importance of smartphones in everyone's life. Market demand still has a solid foundation. As the world moves towards the post-epidemic era, IDC believes that demand will grow and market recovery will accelerate."