Apple’s iPhone 11 has been the most-shipped smartphone of 2020 so far. According to a report by a London-based tech research firm Omdia, the iPhone 11 outsold every other phone by a significant margin. Apple is said to have sold nearly 37.7 million units of the iPhone 11, three times more than Samsung’s budget Galaxy A51 handset which ranks second on the list.
Other than the iPhone 11, Apple dominates the charts as all of its recent models including the iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone SE, and iPhone 11 Pro Max have made the top-10 cut. Samsung, meanwhile, managed to secure only a single position and the rest of the spots have been acquired by China-based phone maker Xiaomi.
The 2020 first-half results are in stark contrast with last year’s list on which four of Samsung’s phones were present, while only two iPhone models made their way onto the top-10 charts. Both the lists, however, were led by Apple’s entry-level flagships.
Omdia’s research falls in line with earlier reports that claimed Samsung’s phone business has had an underwhelming year so far due to the pandemic. Last month, Gartner said that “among the top five smartphone vendors, Samsung experienced the largest decline in sales while Apple’s smartphone sales were nearly flat year-over-year.” Samsung’s slump has reportedly even allowed Huawei to climb to the pole position for the first time. Despite arriving late in September, the iPhone 11 was also the second-bestselling smartphone in 2019 after its predecessor, the iPhone XR according to Counterpoint Research.
Over the last couple of years, Apple has reoriented a portion of its smartphone strategy to focus on low-cost products. In 2019, it launched iPhone 11 at a starting price of $699, $50 less than the iPhone XR. It also refreshed its midtier iPhone SE earlier this year.
Further, as per Bloomberg, Apple plans to announce its next entry-level flagship phone in two sizes to offer buyers on a budget more options. Also said to be in the works: an affordable Apple Watch and a smaller HomePod. The report adds that unlike the rest of the smartphone industry which is on a decline, Apple has asked its suppliers to produce the same amount of iPhones as last year.
