Market intelligence firm Counterpoint Research suggests that the delayed launch of the iPhone 12 last year may have worked in Apple’s favor.
The company says there were two benefits to the delay …
Apple sales fell
Counterpoint’s headline is that European smartphone sales in 2020 were 14% lower than the year before, and Apple was not immune, with sales down 4% from 2019.
2020 was a roller coaster year for the European smartphone market. The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the region hard, causing both demand and supply problems. Meanwhile, economic and employment concerns led consumers to save rather than spend, and widespread lockdowns meant that many consumers were unable or unwilling to visit stores and buy new devices.
Jan Stryjak, Associate Director of Counterpoint Research, said of the overall market: “April was the worst month of the year, with sales down nearly 50% from 2019. Waning cases and easing restrictions led to a recovery over the summer, but the virus came back with vengeance. COVID-19 cases soared in September, leading to new lockdowns across Europe from November. So towards the end of the year, the market saw another decline, despite Apple’s best efforts (see below). In total, the European smartphone market shrank by 14% in 2020 compared to 2019. “
But a delayed launch of the iPhone 12 had its advantages
But it notes that Apple outperformed the market as a whole, and believes the delayed launch of the iPhone 12 may have been good news rather than bad for the Cupertino company.
Apple may have been down a bit in 2020, but this doesn’t tell the full story. The decision to delay the launch of the iPhone 12 appears to be paying off for two reasons. First, it gave the iPhone 11 and iPhone SE the ability to last remarkably long and continuously sell well in many markets all year round. And second, it built demand for the new device which, when it finally launched in October, sold spectacularly. In fact, the iPhone 12 was Apple’s most successful launch to date, pushing Apple to a record 30% share in Q4 2020.
With a lot of financial pressure from time off or fewer hours, the middle-class and budget brands did the best.
Xiaomi was the biggest success story in Europe in 2020, becoming the third largest OEM in the region at the expense of Huawei […] Oppo entered the European market in 2018, but 2020 was the year in which it seriously gained momentum. Partnerships with Europe’s largest operator channels – namely Vodafone, Telefonica, Orange and Deutsche Telekom – mean Oppo’s devices are stocked in the vital operator channel across Europe […] Realme was the fastest growing brand in Europe in 2020, with sales more than tenfold compared to 2019. Its strong value proposition has led to good growth in more price-conscious markets such as Italy, Spain and Eastern Europe.
Globally, Gartner said earlier this week that Apple saw modest growth at the expense of Samsung.
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