iPhone 12 helps get Apple on top as Huawei suffers.

The worldwide smartphone market returned to growth at the end of a tough 2020. demands for the iPhone 12 driving shipments and sailing Apple to the position of the world’s largest manufacturer.

Apple’s smartphone shipments shot up by 22% in the fourth quarter, with 90.1 million devices shipped; the highest quarterly number of shipments for any vendor on record, according to IDC. The surge during Apple’s most profitable quarter was fuelled by the success of the company’s iPhone 12 series and lifted Apple to the No. 1 spot in the quarter, with 23% of the total market, according to IDC.

Apple’s Stock Closes at All-Time High Ahead of Earnings Results Next Wednesday #AppleNews https://t.co/lrPleca5CA pic.twitter.com/lhcfEa4NLA

— MacTrast (@MacTrast) January 22, 2021

Also Read: IOS 14.4: Why Apple is urging you to update it immediately

Huawei’s fall

On the other hand, Huawei’s smartphone shipments jumped by 42%, an acceleration from its third-quarter fall of 22%. Second-quarter last year, the Chinese technology giant had climbed to become the No. 1 vendor. But under pressure from the U.S., it is now dragged down to No. 5.

Restrictions on Huawei’s ability to buy chips and use American software on its devices have held back the supply of its phones and caused consumers to abandon the brand; reversing years of steady growth, analysts said.

“In China, Apple seized the perfect opportunity to capture Huawei’s market share in the high end, when the latter has essentially not enough supply even though demand for the brand is still there,” said Nicole Peng.

Huawei is now in early-stage talks to sell its premium smartphone brands P and Mate; a move that could see the company eventually exit from the high-end smartphone-making business
No signs of US trade restrictions easing soon. Huawei is expected to continue its fall in 2021 and could exit the top 5 this quarter once it falls behind Vivo