Counterpoint has officially released their Q4 2020 report for smartphone shipment share. While the majority of brands experienced negative growth due to the effects of the pandemic, Apple, Xiaomi, realme, and Tecno are one of the few that managed to exhibit year-on-year growth despite all of the things that happened in 2020.  
For the fourth quarter of 2020, Apple manage to get a 13% YoY growth, which can be credited to the release of the iPhone 12 series. Xiaomi also did well with a 31% YoY growth. One of the reasons for Xiaomi’s strong momentum is that the brand was able to take over regions where Huawei used to sell a lot. The US Trade Ban and other restrictions imposed against Huawei has greatly affected the brand.
When it comes to YoY growth, realme posted the biggest numbers out there with an impressive 80% YoY growth despite the pandemic. Its barrage of phone releases across different countries and regions–Europe included–helped realme increased its presence significantly.
The same can be said with Counterpoint’s year-end report, where Apple’s late release of the iPhone 12 series helped it get a 3% YoY growth, while Xiaomi and realme’s increased presence in other regions helped them get a YoY growth of 17% and 65% respectively.
It is also worth mentioning that realme has been the fastest-growing smartphone brand in the world for five consecutive quarters, and the brand has no signs of slowing down yet as it is set to release its Snapdragon 888-powered flagship soon.
What are your thoughts on the Counterpoint Q4 2020 report and realme’s meteoric rise?
