Canalys: Global smartphone shipments reached 359.6 million units in 2020, a slight decrease of 2% year-on-year

Today, two authoritative market research institutions, IDC and Canalys, released their latest reports. Although the data details of the two sides are different, they all point to the fact that driven by the strong sales of iPhone 12, Apple returned to the top spot in the world in the fourth quarter of 2020, and Xiaomi ranked third.

Canalys data shows that global smartphone shipments reached 359.6 million units in the fourth quarter of 2020, a slight decrease of 2% year-on-year. Apple sold the most iPhones ever in the quarter, with sales of 81.8 million units, an increase of 4% over the same period last year.

Samsung ranked second with 62 million units shipped, down 12%. Xiaomi, OPPO and vivo rounded out the top five, each gaining share from sanctions-plagued Huawei (including Honor).

Among them, Xiaomi grew 31% to 43.4 million units, Oppo grew 15% to 34.7 million units, and Vivo shipped 32.1 million units, up 14%.

Huawei (including Honor) ranked sixth in the fourth quarter of 2020, with shipments of 32 million smartphones. This is also the first time it has fallen out of the top five in the world in six years.

Canalys analyst Vincent Thielke said: "The iPhone 12 is very popular. Apple has an advantage over its competitors in 5G. As air freight costs continue to rise due to the pandemic, the power plug is omitted from the iPhone retail packaging box, thereby reducing weight and size, making logistics efficiency greatly improved."

The following are the detailed data: