Apple dominated the Japanese smartphone market in 2020

According to research firm IDC (via GizChinaApple dominated the smartphone market in Japan in the fourth quarter of 2020, with the iPhone brand accounting for more than half of all phone sales in the country.

According to the report, the mobile market reached 11.432 million shipments in the fourth quarter of 2020 and 52.6% of all smartphone sales in Japan were iPhones, contributing substantially to an annual growth of 10.6% for the country’s mobile market as a whole .

Apple shipments totaled 6.015 million units in Japan, up 13.8% year-on-year, mainly driven by the release of the company’s 5G-compatible iPhone 12 series.

Sharp came in second after Apple with 1.414 million units sold and 12.4% market share, while the local Kyocera brand came in third with 7.0% market share and 801,000 units sold.

Samsung took the fourth position with a 6.8% market share and shipped 781,000 units, followed by Sony – traditionally a favorite of the Japanese brand – which came in fifth with 732,000 shipments and a 6.4% share, while other smaller brands took care of the rest of the shipments. .

Looking at 2020 as a whole, Apple sold the most smartphones in Japan with a market share of 46.5%, shipping 15.637 million units, which accounted for a growth of 8.3% year-over-year. Meanwhile, Sharp, Fujitsu, Samsung and Kyocera achieved 13.3%, 8.3%, 8.1% and 7.5% market shares respectively, while smaller domestic brands accounted for the rest.

Despite a delay in launching the ‌iPhone 12‌ series in Japan due to the global health crisis, Apple remained the undisputed champion mobile brand in the country, where iOS regularly accounts for more than 60 percent of the operating system market, compared to 50 percent of the market in the United States. Japan also regularly comes out on top when it comes to countries where ‌iPhone‌ models are the least expensive.