Apple’s fourth-quarter sales helped it claim the top spot surpassing Samsung for the first time since 2016, according to the recent report by Gartner Inc., a global research and advisory firm. However, global sales of smartphones to end users declined 5.4% in the fourth quarter of 2020.

“The sales of more 5G smartphones and lower-to-mid-tier smartphones minimized the market decline in the fourth quarter of 2020,” said Anshul Gupta, senior research director at Gartner. “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.”

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Gartner: Worldwide smartphone sales will grow 3% in 2020

The launch of the 5G iPhone 12 series helped Apple record double-digit growth in the fourth quarter of 2020. Apple surpassed Samsung to retake the No. 1 global smartphone vendor spot. The last time Apple was the top smartphone vendor was in the fourth quarter of 2016.

Samsung experienced a year-on-year decline of 14.6% in 2020, but this did not prevent it from retaining its No. 1 global smartphone vendor position in full-year results. It faced tough competition from regional smartphone vendors such as Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo as these brands grew more aggressive in global markets. In 2020, Apple and Xiaomi were the only two smartphone vendors of the top five rankings to experience growth.

Huawei recorded the highest decline among the top five smartphone vendors which made it lose the No. 2 position to Apple in 2020. The impact of the ban on the use of Google applications on Huawei’s smartphones was detrimental to Huawei’s performance in the year and negatively affected sales.

“In 2021, the availability of lower end 5G smartphones and innovative features will be deciding factors for end-users to upgrade their existing smartphones,” said Gupta. “The rising demand for affordable 5G smartphones outside China will boost smartphone sales in 2021.”