IDC and Counterpoint: iPhone was Tops Globally in December-Quarter

Image via Apple

2 February 2022 - Since Apple does not say how many of what it sells anymore, one cannot officially say that iPhone crushed it last quarter. I mean, one can say that in terms of revenue, but not it terms of units sold. Not officially. Unofficially though, iPhone crushed it last quarter. That’s according to one set of numbers from IDC and another set from Counterpoint Research, both highlighted by Cult of Mac. IDC had Apple shipping 84.9 million iPhones over the holiday quarter. Counterpoint puts that number at 81.5 million. 

While the firms disagree on exact numbers, they do agree on a couple of things. First, they both say iPhone shipments slipped a bit from the same quarter a year earlier. Second, they still came out on top by a whole heck of a lot. Running down the IDC top five:

1. Apple 84.9 Million 23.4% Share

2. Samsung 68.9 Million 19.0% Share

3. Xiaomi 45.0 million 12.4% Share

4. OPPO 30.1 million 8.3% Share

5. vivo 28.3 million 7.8% Share

As for the Counterpoint top-five:

1. Apple 81.5 Million

2. Samsung 67.2 Million

3. Xiaomi 45.0 million

4. OPPO 33.5 million

5. vivo 29.3 million

For the full year, Counterpoint flips the first and second spots, giving the “units shipped” crown to Samsung for all of 2021. Then again, as Cult of Mac points out, Apple “doesn’t try to compete in some of the product categories its rival does, especially very low-cost handsets.”