'iPhone 11 → iPhone 12' Apple Holds Onto Smartphone Throne [Cha Min-young's Post-it]

The Best-Selling Smartphones Worldwide in January Were
iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro Max, and iPhone 12 Pro
Bright Outlook for Apple's Performance This Year
"Better Than 2015" IB Forecast

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Minyoung Cha] #. Where does Apple's strength come from? Last year, Apple earned the honor of having the best-selling smartphone model worldwide with the iPhone 11, and in January this year, it claimed the top spot globally with the iPhone 12 series.

According to Counterpoint Research, the iPhone 12, released at the end of October last year, recorded the highest global sales for individual smartphone models in January this year. The standard iPhone 12 ranked first with a 6% share, the premium iPhone 12 Pro Max came in second (5%), the iPhone 12 Pro was third (4%), and last year's iPhone 11 was fourth (2%), with the iPhone 11 and 12 series sweeping the top four spots. The iPhone 12 Mini ranked eighth, and the iPhone SE 2020 also made it to tenth place.

Apple's iPhone series took six out of the top ten spots overall. The only other manufacturers appearing in the January rankings were Xiaomi and Samsung Electronics. Xiaomi's Redmi 9A (5th) and Redmi 9 (6th), Samsung's Galaxy A21s (7th), and Galaxy A31 (9th) were the others.

The strong sales in the United States, where love for the iPhone is exceptional, are believed to support the overall performance. Counterpoint Research reported that about one-third of Apple's total sales occur in the U.S.

Thanks to the strength of the iPhone 12, Apple's performance outlook for this year is also bright. Recently, in the U.S. financial sector, there have been predictions that, fueled by a replacement supercycle among existing iPhone users, sales will surpass the record set in 2015.

Investment bank Wedbush Securities recently stated in a shareholder letter that Apple is expected to sell between 240 million and 250 million iPhones in the 2021 fiscal year. This exceeds the 231 million units sold in 2015, when the iPhone 6 series achieved record sales. Since this figure is more than 13% higher than Wall Street's consensus estimate of 220 million units, further verification is needed.

Senior analyst Dan Ives highlighted the outstanding performance of the iPhone 12 and named Apple as a top pick among tech stocks including Microsoft and Nuance. Previously, Ives estimated that out of the current 950 million iPhone users, about 350 million have upgrade demand, considering factors such as demand in China.

Of course, in January, there were few competitors to challenge Apple, as Samsung Electronics' new flagship Galaxy S21 series was absent. Some reports indicate that Samsung's total sales surpassed Apple's in February. The February sales results, which will feature a direct competition between the iPhone 12 series and the Galaxy S21 series, are therefore highly anticipated.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.