The most popular and the most shipped smartphone worldwide in 2019? Here’s the winner

Apple’s master stroke in 2019 was slashing the price on the iPhone XR. The iPhone XR went on to dominate the global smartphone market last year according to new data from Omidia.

Apple’s master stroke in 2019 was slashing the price on the iPhone XR. The iPhone XR went on to dominate the global smartphone market last year according to new data from Omidia. (REUTERS)

Apple's master stroke in 2019 was slashing the price on the iPhone XR. The iPhone XR went on to dominate the global smartphone market last year according to new data from Omidia. Not was just the most popular, the iPhone XR was also the most shipped smartphone worldwide in 2019.

In fact, the shipments of the one-year old iPhone beat the shipments of the newly launched iPhone 11 in 2019 that started shipping in September last year. Apple dropped the price of the iPhone XR earlier in the year.

According to Omidia's Smartphone Model Market Tracker report, Apple shipped an estimated 46.3 million iPhone XR units in 2019. Apple shipped 37.3 million units of the iPhone 11 last year.

(Omidia)

(Omidia)

The third, fourth and fifth slot in the most-shipped list was taken by Samsung with the Galaxy A10, A50 and A20 which clocked shipments of 30.3 million, 24.2 million and 19.2 million units respectively.

Apple's high-end iPhone 11 Pro Max clocked a 17.6 million shipments in the last quarter of 2019 to take sixth place, slightly ahead of 17.4 million units shipped metric notched by iPhone 8.

The iPhone 11 Pro sat in ninth place with 15.5 million units shipped, according to Omdia.

"Apple has consistently owned the first and second positions in the global smartphone model shipment ranking, with the company maintaining this dominant position for more than five years running," said Jusy Hong, smartphone research and analysis director at Omdia.

"By limiting the number of models it offers compared to its top competitors, Apple has been able to concentrate its sales on a few smartphones that have broad appeal, like the iPhone XR," Omidia explained.

Omidia notes that overall iPhone shipments declined for the second time in as many years, dipping 4.6% in 2019. However, this is an improvement over 2018 which suffered a 5.1% year-over-year decline.