Apple Slips to Fourth Place for Smartphone Market Share, Overtaken by Xiaomi

Apple has shipped 10.6 percent fewer iPhones year-on-year in the third quarter of 2020, meaning that it has been overtaken by Xiaomi for the first time, according to new data shared by IDC.

The report details how Apple is now ranked as the fourth-largest smartphone manufacturer by market share. This is the first time that Apple has ranked fourth, with Xiaomi, Huawei, and Samsung exceeding Apple's 11.8 percent share.

In total, Apple is believed to have shipped 41.2 million devices in the third quarter, which is five million less than the same time last year.

The drop was expected on the back of the delay in launching the iPhone 12 lineup, which usually appears in the third quarter. Irrespective of the belated arrival of the iPhone 12, the iPhone 11 and iPhone SE contributed to the majority of Apple's volume and performed "exceptionally well."

Going forwards, IDC expects Apple to grow in coming quarters due to strong early demand for the iPhone 12 and solid trade-in offers from major carriers, particularly within the United States.

Samsung reclaimed the top position with a market share of 22.7 percent, shipping over 80 million smartphones. Huawei followed with a 14.7 percent share, and this was a significant reduction of 40 percent year-on-year. vivo also returned to the top five with a market share of 8.9 percent.

Xiaomi overtook Apple for the first time with a market share of 13.1 percent, achieving a 42 percent growth. The rise is supposedly due to strong gains in India and China.

Overall, the global smartphone market declined by only 1.3 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2020. The results were stronger than IDC's previous forecast of a nine percent year-over-year decline. An important trend was the strength of shipments in India, which is the second-largest market globally, and other emerging markets, such as Brazil, Indonesia, and Russia.