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What you need to know

  • Global iPhone sales finally grew in Q4 of 2019.
  • That's after four consecutive quarters of decline.
  • New research from Gartner says Apple took a 17.1% share of the market, just behind Samsung.

New Gartner research suggests that Apple's global iPhone sales climbed in Q4 of 2019, after four quarters of consecutive decline.

According to the report:

After four consecutive quarters of decline, Apple's iPhone sales returned to growth, with an increase of 7.8% in the fourth quarter. "A slight lowering of the prices of the iPhone 11 series, compared with the iPhone XR, and other price reductions for previous-generation iPhone models, increased demand. It also helped Apple regain the No. 2 position," said Annette Zimmermann, research vice president at Gartner.

Sales of iPhones were particularly strong in China, where they grew by 39% in the fourth quarter. Apple also performed strongly in certain mature and developing markets, such as the U.K., France, Germany, Brazil and India.

Gartner analysts expect Apple will launch its first 5G smartphone in the third quarter of 2020. This will encourage users to upgrade in countries where 5G network services are available.

The global smartphone market as a whole appears to have declined by about 0.4% in the quarter and by 1% last year. Amidst this struggling market, Apple and Xiaomi were the only vendors in the top five to achieve growth. Samsung managed to hold on to the number 1 spot with a 17.3% share, however, Apple and Samsung are basically neck and neck.

Over the year, Apple sold an estimated 193 million smartphone units, and took a 12.6% share of the market, behind Huawei and Samsung. You can read the full report here!