Omdia answered an urgent question that you had in mind. Which smartphone was the most popular last year? When we say the most popular, we base it on the number of units shipped worldwide. Before we get to the answer, let’s first go back to the same question for 2019. In that year, the Apple iPhone XR was the best phone worldwide, with 46.3 million deliveries. The average selling price of the device was $ 777USD. Number two was the Apple iPhone 11 shipped with 37.3 million devices.
Interestingly, it was the 2019 runner-up that received the crown last year, as the iPhone 11 took the lead with a whopping 64.8 million units shipped last year. And it was not even close. While the difference between the number of phones sent between first and second place one was only 9 million units in 2019, the gap last year was 40.6 million devices. Due to the pandemic that many consumers did not want to earn from their bread last year, it was the second most popular device iPhone SE (2020). With an average retail price of $ 451, the iPhone 8 Dual (albeit with an A13 Bionic inside and 3GB of storage) shipped 24.2 million devices.
Apple was also responsible for the third most popular phone worldwide last year, the iPhone 12. Although the pandemic forced Apple to release the phone more than a month later than the normal September date, it was delivered 23.3 million times. The device was part of Apple’s first range of 5G phones and was the second most expensive phone on the list with an average selling price of $ 896.
The Apple iPhone 11 was the most-shipped phone in 2020
Samsung was responsible for the next three phones on the list as the Galaxy A51 takes fourth place, the Galaxy A21’s budget phone was fifth, and the Galaxy A01 was sixth. The three models were delivered 23.2 million, 19.4 million and 16.9 million times respectively. Although the A51 can be considered a midfielder, the Galaxy A01 is the lowest priced among the top ten, with an average selling price of $ 115 which places it in the budget category.
Only in 2020, Apple had the flagship models on the list of the most sent smartphones
Ironically, the cheapest phone on the list is the most expensive. With an average selling price of $ 1,232, the Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max was the seventh most popular phone of 2020. It is also the top of Apple’s 2020 device. The phone was followed by the Samsung Galaxy A11 with a total of 15.3 million last year. Xiaomi had the ninth most popular phone with the Redmi Note 9 Pro. 15 million units shipped with an average selling price of $ 161. And rounding off the top ten of the most-shipped phones in 2020 was the iPhone 12 mini shipped with 14.5 million phones. According to reports, this model did not sell as well as Apple had hoped, so there was talk that Apple would stop production of the phone during the second quarter.
Since the iPhone 12 models on the list were available for just under two months during 2020, we would say that Apple should feel pretty good about the popularity of the iPhone. In fact, if we go through both the 2019 and 2020 lists, we can see that only Apple was able to place the flagship models among the 20 phones for the two years.
Jusy Hong, senior research manager of components and devices for wireless devices at Omdia, said that ‘the top 10 list illustrates that Apple has a tight grip on the overall smartphone market and the strength of its brand compared to all other OEMs for slimfone. The list also illustrates that other OEMs, even a well-positioned brand like Samsung, are struggling to break through to consumers with their own premium devices – no Galaxy S or Note line model has made the top 10. The only other OEM that really had a chance to claim Apple’s position as the top premium OEM for smartphones, Huawei, will see that its role in the international smartphone market will continue to decline. Other brands, such as Xiaomi, vivo and OPPO, have different priorities for the product portfolio than challenging Apple at the moment in the premium segment. ‘