Nine of the ten bestselling smartphone handsets of 2020 so far are made by Apple and Xiaomi.
The iPhone 11 was the most-shipped smartphone model globally in the first half of the year with an astonishing 37.7m units shifted, with four other iPhones in the top ten.
New research from analyst firm Omdia also showed that Xiaomi did very well during the period, with four of its phones in the top ten. It means that Samsung, the company that sells the most phones globally, only has one model in the top ten bestselling individual models. The Galaxy A51 sold 11.4m, a distant second to the iPhone 11.
Despite the apparent poor performance when looking at handset models, Samsung still sold the most phones of any manufacturer globally in Q2 2020 according to Gartner.
Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 8 and 8 Pro took fourth and fifth spot respectively, their relative affordability a possible draw for consumers as purse strings worldwide tightened during the coronavirus pandemic.
But the presence of five Apple handsets in the top ten shows that people still splash out on the premium pricing of the Cupertino company’s phones, with the most expensive iPhone ever made, the iPhone 11 Pro Max, selling 7.7m units in a healthy seventh position.
Apple’s cheapest iPhone currently on sale, the iPhone SE, sold a whole 1m units more, showing comparatively that Apple does know how to come down to meet the market. The runaway success of the iPhone 11 shows that Apple well-positioned the phone by making its RRP cheaper than the launch price of 2018’s iPhone XR. The iPhone 11 is practically the same phone all things told, but that clearly has not affected sales.
Xiaomi’s ultra-budget $85 and $97 Redmi 8A and Redmi 8 sat in eighth and ninth on the chart respectively, which Omdia said showed “consumers’ preference for low-end models is growing due to the economic recession,” and were popular in emerging markets.
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Author: Henry Burrell, Phones Editor
Henry is Tech Advisor’s Phones Editor, ensuring he and the team covers and reviews every smartphone worth knowing about for readers and viewers all over the world. He spends a lot of time moving between different handsets and shouting at WhatsApp to support multiple devices at once.