Apple retains 5G market lead in Q1 2021
- Apple earned a total of 29.8% market share in Q1 2021.
- The company shipped an estimated 40.4 million of the entire iPhone 12 lineup in the first quarter of 2021.
- However, the stats had a 23% dip as compared to Q4 2020.
New data shared by Strategy Analytics states that Apple claimed the first place in the 5G market share in Q1 2021, despite several factors that affected the company’s sales globally.
The data from Strategy Analytics shares a brief description of the market sales of the company. According to the data, Apple shipped an estimated 40.4 million of the entire iPhone 12 lineup in Q1 2021. Now this does sound like a big number, yet, it was a 23% dip compared to Q4 2020, where Apple shipped 52.2 million units with the launch of the iPhone 12 lineup. The majority of sales were shipped during the holiday season, the report said. Additionally, the holiday sales led Apple to become world's largest smartphone vendor and now, with the 40.4 million number, the company maintained its supremacy in the global 5G smartphone market.
Apple’s first ever 5G-equipped iPhone models were launched in the month of October 2020, which was the final quarter of the year. The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro went on sale starting late October followed by the iPhone 12 Pro Max and iPhone 12 mini which went on sale the following month. Right after that, the company enjoyed an outburst of sales in the 5G market for the next three months.
However, ever since then, rivals have upped their game in the premium smartphone market with the launch of their new 5G smartphone models. All of the 4-5 largest android smartphone brands have seen a significant increase in the shipments of their newly released 5G smartphone across the same time period, as per the market intelligence firm.
Samsung was bagged the world’s fastest growing 5G smartphone company in Q1 2021, with 17 million units shipped, thereby witnessing a remarkable 79% QoQ growth. This growth was solely due to its latest Galaxy S21 lineup which was sold greatly in countries such as South Korea, North America and parts of Europe. But even with all that, it managed to acquire the fourth place, earning just 12.5% of the market.
Samsung is performing well with new 5G models, such as Galaxy S21 5G, S21 ultra 5G and S21+ 5G, in South Korea, North America, and parts of Europe. Meanwhile, Apple dipped 23% QoQ, following a blowout Q4 2020 where the new 5G iPhone was wildly popular as a gift during the holiday season[...] We forecast global 5G smartphone shipments to reach a record 624 million units for the full-year 2021, soaring from 269 million in full-year 2020. — Ville-Petteri Ukonaho, associate director at Strategy Analytics
Vivo stood as the second fastest growing 5G smartphone company in Q1 2021, shipping 19 million units, thus, achieving a 62% QoQ growth. This growth was seen mainly due to the company’s iQOO U3 5G and U7 5G smartphone models which performed well in China and Europe.
However, Chinese smartphone manufacturer OPPO claimed the second place in the 5G market place right after Apple. The company shipped 21.5 million units which let it acquire a 15.8% market share, with a 55% QoQ growth. Xiaomi also saw a 41% QoQ growth.
Regardless, even with all that growth rate of different companies, Apple stood as the undisputed leader of the 5G market with a total of 29.8% market share — close to twice that of second-placed Oppo, at 15.8%.
Apple’s entire iPhone 12 lineup was released with two different 5G model options. The first option offers a super-fast mmWave (millimeter wave) 5G model which is available only in the US and allocates to only 30-35% of overall iPhone 12 lineup shipments. The second one offers a slower but more widespread sub-6GHz 5G which is available globally.
However, with the release of the upcoming iPhone lineup later this year, the company is planning to increase the availability of 5G mmWave to more countries around the world. This would offer even more customers access to the faster and newer technology where the 5G infrastructure is getting ready.
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Thank you for visiting Apple Scoop! As a dedicated independent news organization, we strive to deliver the latest updates and in-depth journalism on everything Apple. Have insights or thoughts to share? Drop a comment below—our team actively engages with and responds to our community. Return to the home page.18th June, 2021 at 4:32 am by Yash
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