Apple Trailed Xiaomi In Q3 Sales With 40.6M Units: Gartner

According to Gartner, worldwide smartphone sales fell 5.7% year-over-year to 366 million units in the third quarter of 2020.

Xiaomi Corporation’s (OTC: XIACF) market share in the smartphone segment for third-quarter 2020 improved 34.9% YoY to 12.1%, claiming the third spot by knocking Apple Inc’s (NASDAQ: AAPL).

In October, multiple research reports disclosed that Asian smartphone makers ranked among the top three companies in this business segment, which was corroborated with the latest by Gartner.

What Happened: Xiaomi’s 12.1% market share in Q3 2020 ranks third, trailing behind market leaders Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (OTC: SSNLF) and Huawei Technologies Co Ltd. with 22% and 14.1%, respectively.

Chinese phone maker and internet company Xiaomi has outpaced the fabled iPhone maker in the September quarter. Apple sold approximately 40.6 million units representing an 11.1% market share, a 0.6% drop from last year.

Annette Zimmermann, Research Vice President at Gartner, said that Apple’s iPhone 12 delayed shipments led to its decline.

Why Does It Matter: Gartner research claims that despite the push for 5G adoption, smartphone sales are lagging compared to 2019 figures.

Anshul Gupta, A Senior Research Director with Gartner, claimed that this moderate bump in sales resulted from a pent up demand from previous quarters. Gupta also opined that fears of a fresh wave of COVID-19 are limiting consumer spend on non-essentials.

Price Action: AAPL closed 0.48% higher at $116.59,on Friday. XIACF closed 1.01% lower at $3.42 on Friday.