Apple grabs top spot in global smartphone market after two years, courtesy iPhone 11 series

Apple earlier this week posted a positive quarter report with a double-digit growth in emerging markets such as India. A new Counterpoint Research report corroborates Apple's turnaround in the last quarter. The report says Apple topped the global smartphone market in the said period, pushing Samsung to number 2 and Huawei to number 3 spots.

Counterpoint Research says Apple shipped 72.9 million units in the Q4 2019, higher than 65.9 million during the same quarter last year. Samsung came second with 70.9 million units followed by Huawei at 56 million. Xiaomi grabbed the fourth spot with 32.7 million units shipments in the quarter. The top 10 list also includes brands such as Realme and Tecno.

"Within the quarter however, after two-year, Apple gained the top spot in the Global Smartphone Market. This was driven by the iPhone 11 series beating expectations. iPhone revenues were up year-on-year for the first time since September 2018," said the report.

"Apple iPhone shipments grew 11% YoY during the Q4 2019, even without a 5G variant. The iPhone 11 series received an excellent consumer response in all regions. The dual-camera, and lower pricing of iPhone 11 than the XR at the same point last year, helped propel sales. Apple's Service revenue grew 17% YoY in 4Q 2019, reaching a record high in many categories including music, cloud and Apple Care. Apple has set itself new targets for services as it has already surpassed many it set for 2020. It will focus on new areas and services to generate new revenue streams," it added.

"There have been growing tensions among several countries that have impacted the smartphone market. For example, the US pressure on Huawei, and tensions between Japan-Korea that led to uncertainties in the memory market. Supply chains have been upset, causing various companies to rethink their strategies and reduce dependence on single markets. 2020 will likely see efforts to further diversify investments across geographies to mitigate risks. The current coronavirus outbreak in China is the latest issue to threaten supply chains," wrote Varun Mishra, Research Analyst at Counterpoint Research.

This picture is quite different for the Calendar Year 2019. The report says Samsung dominated the year CY 2019 with 296.5 million smartphone shipments.

Huawei managed to grab the second spot with 238.5 million smartphone shipments. The company managed to maintain its base despite the US sanctions, and the US-China trade war. Apple stood at the third position for the CY 2019, according to the report.