The global smartphone market returned to growth during the fourth quarter of 2020, with a clear shift among the top five vendors, preliminary data from International Data Corporation (IDC) shows.

While the smartphone market declined 5.9% in 2020, compared with 2019, the fourth quarter growth of 4.3% shows “impressive” progress in recovery and renewed momentum for 2021.

The latest IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker indicates that smartphone vendors shipped a total of 385.9-million devices during the quarter under review, with Apple taking the top spot in a shift that also saw Huawei lose momentum.

“There are a lot of elements at play that are fuelling the smartphone market recovery – pent-up demand, continued supply push on fifth-generation, aggressive promotions and the popularity of low- to mid-priced phones,” says IDC Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers research director Nabila Popal.

The growth is also attributed to the better preparedness of vendors to navigate second Covid-19-induced lockdowns, as the right channels were set up ready to fulfil orders and reach the end consumer, boosted by the fast recovery and resilience of the smartphone supply chain.

In addition, the growth is benefiting from reduced consumer spending on leisure, travel and dining out.

The IDC Tracker reveals a clear shift among the top five vendors, as Apple returned to the number one position with 90.1-million devices shipped, driven by the success of the iPhone 12 series.

“This represents the highest shipment volume from a vendor in a single quarter and resulted in 23.4% market share and 22.2% year-over-year growth,” Popal explains.

With the continued success of the A series and growth in nearly every region, Samsung achieved year-on-year growth of 6.2%, shifting up to the number two position with 73.9-million device shipments and 19.1% market share.

Successfully capitalising on declining Huawei shipments, Xiaomi ranked third, with shipments of 43.3-million and claiming market share of 11.2% after reporting growth of 32%, while OPPO ranked fourth with growth of 10.7%, shipments of 33.8-million and an 8.8% market share.

Both focused strongly on aggressive product portfolios and building partnerships during the fourth quarter of the year.

Meanwhile, Huawei fell to the number five spot after a significant year-on-year decline of 42.4%, owing to US sanctions. The vendor reported shipments of 32.3-million and recorded an 8.4% market share during the fourth quarter of 2020.

This compares unfavourably with the 56.2-million shipments and 15.2% market share achieved in the fourth quarter of 2019.

However, for the full-year 2020, despite declining 21.5%, Huawei ranked third with overall shipments reaching 189-million and a market share of 14.6%.

Samsung reported shipments of 266.7-million and a market share of 20.6% during the full year ended 2020, showing a contraction of 9.8%, compared with 2019.

Apple reported 7.9% growth for the 12 months under review, achieving overall shipments of 206.1-million and a market share of 15.9%, while Xiaomi achieved full-year growth of 17.6%, with 147.8-million shipments and a market share of 11.4%.

While Vivo edged off the top-five list in the fourth quarter of the 2020, the vendor ended the year at the number five position with growth of 1.5%, 111.7-million shipments and a market share of 8.6%.

“The recovery of both the smartphone market and its supply chain has been truly impressive and the year-end growth is testament to how far we have come,” says IDC Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers programme VP Ryan Reith.

“The majority of the world is either in some form of lockdown or still waiting to return to normal day-to-day life, yet smartphone sales are rebounding as though nothing ever happened,” he says, pointing out that this illustrates the importance of smartphones.

“As the world progresses towards a post-pandemic environment, IDC believes demand will grow and the market recovery will accelerate,” he concludes.