IDC data shows Apple totally dominates the Japanese market

Feb 25, 2021 14:50 GMT  ·  By

New data shared by IDC for the Japanese market shows not only that Apple is the number one phone brand in the country but also that the Cupertino-based tech giant has absolutely no rival locally.

The Q4 figures indicate Apple has managed to secure a market share of no less than 52.6 percent, which means more than 1 in 2 phones sold last quarter in the country was an iPhone.

And more surprisingly, Samsung wasn’t the runner-up, with Sharp actually getting the second place with a share of 12.4 percent. Kyocera was third, followed by Samsung with just 6.8 percent of the sales.

The mobile market in Japan reached 11.4 million phones last quarter, and this represents a 10.6 percent year on year growth for the entire industry. Apple sold over 6 million iPhones.

Apple also number one worldwide

Data shared by Gartner for global sales in Q4 2020 shows Apple has also managed to surpass Samsung and eventually become the number one phone maker worldwide.

“The launch of the 5G iPhone 12 series helped Apple record double-digit growth in the fourth quarter of 2020. Apple surpassed Samsung to retake the No. 1 global smartphone vendor spot. The last time Apple was the top smartphone vendor was in the fourth quarter for 2016,” Gartner explained.

Apple sold 79.9 million phones worldwide to secure a share of 20.8 percent, while Samsung was the runner-up with 62.1 million sold units and a 16.2 percent share.

“The sales of more 5G smartphones and lower-to-mid-tier smartphones minimized the market decline in the fourth quarter of 2020,” Anshul Gupta, senior research director at Gartner, explained. “Even as consumers remained cautious in their spending and held off on some discretionary purchases, 5G smartphones and pro-camera features encouraged some end users to purchase new smartphones or upgrade their current smartphones in the quarter.”