Apple’s iPhone Shipments up 10% in 2020 When Compared to 2019

Apple increased its global shipments of its iPhone by 10 percent in 2020. Unlike many other smartphone manufacturers who struggled to fulfill shipments due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Apple managed to increase shipments when compared to its 2019 numbers.

According to a new report from DigiTimes Research, global smartphone shipments fell 8.8 percent in 2020. Much of this was due to manufacturing and shipment issues manufacturers faced paired with high demand throughout the pandemic last year. This resulted in a total of 1.24 billion units shipped in 2020, compared to the previous year.

According to the data compiled from DigiTimes Research, the first quarter of 2020 saw global smartphone shipments dive over 20 percent. In Q2, shipments fell at a double-digit rate, before only declining to single digits in Q3. Finally, in Q4, a single-digit rebound was seen.

When looking at the top six smartphone manufacturers, which include Samsung, Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo, only Apple and Xiaomi were able to build on their shipments and increase their numbers compared to 2019. Samsung and Huawei was a dip in shipments by double digits.

However, despite the lower shipment rates of many smartphone manufacturers, worldwide shipments of 5G-enabled smartphones reached as high as 280-300 million units in 2020. This figure is up from 20 million units shipped in 2019. This is likely a result of higher demand for faster data speeds as 5G networking became more accessible.

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