Apple beats Samsung in phone sales for first time since 2016

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  The iPhone 12 Pro Max (left) and iPhone 12 mini (right). [credit: Samuel Axon ]

Apple beat out Samsung to become the world's leading seller of smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to a new data report by research firm Gartner. Samsung had outsold Apple since the same quarter in 2016.

Gartner estimates that Apple sold 79.94 million during the quarter, while Samsung managed to sell 62.17 million. Samsung did not release new flagship phones that quarter. Apple's sales were driven by the introduction of the new iPhone 12 lineup, which generally sold better than the previous year's iPhone updates. Apple sold 69.6 million iPhones in the fourth quarter of 2019.

However, this victory for Apple happened amid a general decline of the smartphone market. Overall smartphone sales declined 12.5 percent in 2020 and by 5.4 percent in the fourth quarter.

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