Apple and Samsung are probably two of the biggest tech giants. These two companies have been going head to head for decades. Both of them manufacture gadgets in their unique manner. Talking about the user-base, both Apple and Samsung have secured a good number globally. Samsung Galaxy S21 series and the iPhone 12 series were the latest flagships from Samsung and Apple respectively. Both series were packed with impressive features topping the sales charts all along. For the past four years, Samsung was on the top but Apple has finally beaten Samsung and secured a top position of smartphone vendor in the fourth quarter of 2020.
Apple tops Samsung after four years
After the successful launch of the iPhone 12 series, Apple skyrocketed sales. Samsung also released their flagship, Galaxy S21 series but iPhone sales hit 79.9 million while Samsung had just 62.1 million in the final three months of 2020. In the fourth quarter, Apple covered 20.8% of the market share while Samsung has a 16.2% share.
The COVID-19 pandemic made a huge impact on the sales of the smartphone. The whole industry faced a challenge. If there was no pandemic, the sales could have been a lot better. The shortage of global chips affected Apple’s manufacturing process harshly.
“The virus pandemic, social distancing in factories, and growing competition from tablets, laptops, and electric cars have created some of the most difficult conditions for the supply of smartphone components in many years,” said Neil Mawston, an analyst at Strategy Analytics.
Gartner Reports
According to Gartner, “Apple’s year-on-year growth went up to 14.9%, while Samsung saw its own sales drop by 11.8% in the same period. Looking into the year of 2020, Apple grew by 3.3% while Samsung fell by 14.6%.”
“The sales of more 5G smartphones and lower-to-mid-tier smartphones minimized the market decline in the fourth quarter of 2020. Even as consumers remained cautious in their spending and held off on some discretionary purchases, 5G smartphones and pro-camera features encouraged some end users to purchase new smartphones or upgrade their current smartphones in the quarter,” says Anshul Gupta, senior research director at Gartner.
The release of the iPhone 12 series dominated the market and increased Apple sales drastically. We will have to see what Samsung will bring to the table to regain its position. The question is will Apple hold its position term? The other competitors like Xiaomi or Oppo are also growing rapidly. So it a tough battle for everyone.
Up in the line:
- Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 series set to release on March 2021
- Samsung Galaxy F62 officially released with a whopping 7000mAh battery and note-worthy internals
- Facebook is working on Smartwatch having health monitoring and messaging feature
- Xiaomi Redmi 9 Power officially available in Nepal with solid internals
- Apple To Introduce ‘App Tracking Transparency’ Feature In Early Spring
