A Digitimes Research report predicts that smartphone shipments are likely to grow more than 50% year-on-year this quarter, with the iPhone 12 responsible for a significant chunk of that growth.
The firm estimates that Apple will ship more than 60M iPhones this quarter…
Added to the holiday quarter, says Digitimes, that will make for an impressive number.
Global smartphone shipments are likely to grow nearly 50% on year to 340 million units in the first quarter of 2021, driven by robust sales of Apple’s iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone Pro Max as well as a ramp-up in shipments by Chinese brands to grab the market share relinquished by Huawei, according to Digitimes Research.
Apple’s iPhone shipments are expected to total over 60 million units in first-quarter 2021, having seen such shipments reach over 90 million units a quarter earlier, Digitimes Research estimates.
Apple is likely to be the top vendor for a six-month period that ends March 31, 2021, with total shipments of over 150 million units, up 38% from the same period of a year earlier.
It says that Samsung will take second place despite declining sales.
Samsung Electronics will rank second and see its shipments decline slightly in the six months, or roughly 60-65 million units each for fourth-quarter 2020 and first-quarter 2021.
Xiaomi will be in third place with its shipments totaling 90 million units in the six months, representing an increase of over 80% from a year earlier.
Huawei will ship less than 20 million smartphones to be in sixth place in the first quarter of 2021.
Across 2021 as a whole, the report suggests growth will end up at around 10% to 13%.
A Counterpoint Research study last week suggested that the delayed launch of the iPhone 12 worked out in Apple’s favor.
The decision to delay the launch of the iPhone 12 appears to have paid off, for two reasons. First, it gave the iPhone 11 and iPhone SE the opportunity to demonstrate remarkable longevity, selling continuously well in many markets throughout the year. And second, it built up demand for the new device which, when finally launched in October, sold spectacularly. In fact, the iPhone 12 was Apple’s most successful device launch to date, and drove Apple to a record share high of 30% in Q4 2020.
Author: Ben Lovejoy
Source: 9TO5Google
