In its latest report, Gartner reported that Apple’s smartphone sales in the third quarter of 2020 fell by 0.6% year over year. As a whole, the smartphone market saw 366 million units sold in the third quarter worldwide. The total sales are 6% lower compared to the same quarter of the previous year (2019).
Smartphone sales took a hit this year as people did not upgrade their smartphones as they do every year due to the coronavirus outbreak. On the other hand, PC (desktop & laptop) sales saw a major increase as people continue to work from home. As a result, the iPhone sales have not seen any major improvement.
Delayed iPhone release
Also, Apple released its 2020 flagship iPhones slightly later this year as it had to alter its plans due to the lockdown. All industries took a hit and the smartphone market is no different – the release of a lot of products were postponed as supply chains were temporarily closed or took time to adjust to the new norms.
As a result, Apple sold 40.6 million smartphones in the third quarter of 2020. The company released its latest smartphones – the iPhone 12 Mini, the iPhone 12, the iPhone 12 Pro, and the iPhone 12 Pro Max – in October. The fourth quarter of 2020 will see a big increase in the sales of the iPhones as new models are now on sale and also the fact that major lockdown norms have been relaxed.
Samsung was the number one smartphone company in terms of sales in third quarter of 2020. The company sold around 80.8 million smartphones, showing a growth of 2.2% over the previous year. Other smartphone markers in the top 5 – all Chinese companies – include Huawei which sold around 51.8 million smartphones, Xiaomi sold 44.4 million units, and Oppo sold 29.9 million units.
