Omdia: Global smartphone shipments reached 381.1 million units in Q4 2020, up 4.7% year-on-year

According to the latest data from market research consulting firm Omdia, the global smartphone market grew 4.7% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2020, the first quarterly year-on-year growth in the smartphone market since the third quarter of 2019. According to Omdia, global smartphone shipments reached 381.1 million units in the fourth quarter of 2020, up from 364 million units in the fourth quarter of 2019. Compared with the 357.3 million units shipped in the third quarter of 2020, it increased by 6.7% month-on-month.

Omdia data shows that global smartphone shipments reached 1.294 billion units in 2020, a year-on-year decrease of 6.7% from 1.387 billion units in 2019.

In terms of smartphone suppliers, Omdia said Huawei fell out of the top 5 in the fourth quarter of 2020 due to the continued impact of US sanctions. In the fourth quarter of last year, Huawei's smartphone shipments fell 42.9% year-on-year to 32 million units.

In 2020, Huawei's smartphone shipments fell 21.6%, from 240.6 million units in 2019 to 188.7 million units in 2020, and it handed over its top 2 market position to Apple.

Huawei sold its Honor sub-brand in the fourth quarter of 2020.

LG Electronics continues to struggle: The South Korean smartphone maker ranked ninth in the ranking for the full year 2020 and in the fourth quarter. After attempts to restructure its mobile communications division appear to have failed, the company is considering what to do with the loss-making unit.

Meanwhile, Apple and Samsung continue to dominate the rankings, with Samsung topping the 2020 annual ranking and Apple taking first place in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Apple's performance was helped by the release of its first 5G iPhones, which Omdia noted was "critical to Apple's modest year-over-year growth." In the fourth quarter, Apple shipped 84.5 million smartphones, up 20.5% year-over-year from the fourth quarter of 2019. For the full year 2020, Apple shipped 204 million units, up 4.6% from 2019.

Samsung shipped 62.2 million smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2020, down 11.1% year-on-year. Samsung's smartphone shipments for the full year 2020 fell 12.8% to 257 million units, which Omdia said was its lowest shipment level since 2013.

"The epidemic had a significant impact on Samsung in the first and second quarters of last year, and the company faced insurmountable difficulties compared to 2019 and was unable to achieve good results in 2020. Samsung was also unable to continue the positive momentum in the third quarter of 2020 into the fourth quarter," Omdia pointed out.

Omdia pointed out that other top 5 manufacturers, including Xiaomi, Vivo and Oppo, were all beneficiaries of Huawei's "difficult 2020."

Xiaomi ranked third in the fourth quarter of 2020, with shipments of 47.2 million units, a year-on-year increase of 44.5% from the fourth quarter of 2019. In 2020, Xiaomi shipped 148.3 million smartphones, which Omdia said was Xiaomi's largest smartphone shipment ever. Compared with 2019, Xiaomi's smartphone shipments increased by 19.6%, ranking fourth in the global annual list.

"The company (Xiaomi) continues to move towards its goal of 50 million handset shipments per quarter, a figure only Samsung, Apple and Huawei have surpassed in recent quarters," Omdia said.

Oppo and Vivo competed for the fourth place in the fourth quarter of 2020, with Vivo narrowly beating Oppo with 34.5 million shipments to 34.1 million. "Compared to the fourth quarter of 2019, both companies saw significant growth in quarterly shipments - Oppo grew 32.1% year-on-year and Vivo grew 40.8% year-on-year," Omdia said.

Vivo ranked fifth in the full-year 2020 list with 107.9 million units shipped, up 2.5% from 105.2 million units shipped in 2019. On the other hand, Oppo shipped 105 million units in full-year 2020, down 5% from 110.5 million units in 2019.

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