Xiaomi occupy third spotin Q3, overtakes Apple: Samsung leads: Counterpoint report

For the first time ever, Chinese smartphone brand Xiaomi has overtaken Apple to occupy the third spot in the global smartphone market in the third quarter of 2020. This is the first time Apple fell below Xiaomi and the research firm believes this happened because Apple postponed the launch of its flagship iPhone 12 from Q3 to Q4 of 2020.

Though Apple recorded its best quarter in markets such as India and Brazil, the delay in the launch of its flagship product affected its growth in important markets such as North America and Europe.

During this time, Apple iPhone shipments dropped seven percent YoY. At the same time, Xiaomi grew 75 percent quarter on quarter, making up for 13 percent of total smartphone shipments.

Samsung, on the other hand, has finally been able to beat Huawei to regain the top spot vis-à-vis market share by shipping 80.4 million units. The company has recorded 48 percent QoQ growth, three percent YoY growth, and maximum shipments in the past three years. Notably, in the second quarter, Samsung was neck-to-neck with Huawei, with both boasting of 20 percent of the market share each.

As per the Counterpoint Research release issued on December 9, the top five smartphone makers across the world are Samsung (22 percent market share), Huawei (14 percent market share) Xiaomi (13 percent market share), Apple (11 percent market share) and Oppo (8 percent market share).