Apple second to Samsung in smartphone production in record-low 2020

A new report says that Apple was the second-biggest producer of smartphones such as the iPhone 12 in 2020 behind Samsung, in a year that saw a record-breaking fall in production.

From TrendForce:

Owing to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, global smartphone production reached a mere 1.25 billion units in 2020, a record-breaking 11% YoY decrease, according to TrendForce's latest investigations. The top six smartphone brands ranked by production volume for 2020, in order, are Samsung, Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo. The most glaring change from the previous year is Huawei's market share.

TrendForces says the global smartphone market will "gradually recover" in 2021 as people adjust to the "new normals" of the pandemic, and that it further expects a "relatively strong wave of device replacement demand" and growth in emerging markets. As such, it expects 2021 smartphone production to increase by 9% to 1.36 billion units, not quite enough to reverse 2020's decline, but a fair step on the road to recovery.

Regarding Apple, TrendForce says that as in 2020, 2021 will see the company remain the second-largest producer of smartphones behind Samsung. The only change to the top six, according to the research, says that Huawei will drop out of the top ranks to be replaced by Transsion. These 6 will account for some 80% of the world's global smartphone market.

Research from TF suggests Apple produced some 199 million devices in 2020, capturing 31% of the market share. Pushing it just ahead of Huawei's 30% share globally.

The news reflects reports that just two weeks after launch the iPhone 12 was the number one 5G smartphone in the world.