What you need to know
- The iPhone 12 was the best-selling 5G smartphone in October.
- The iPhone 12 Pro came right up behind it in second place.
In a new report by Counterpoint Research, Apple's iPhone 12 became the world's best-selling 5G smartphone within two weeks of its launch in October. The iPhone 12 Pro also quickly took the podium as the second best-selling 5G smartphone in the world. According to the data, those two phones alone captured almost a quarter of all 5G smartphone sales that month.
The iPhone 12 is not the 7th highest selling 5G smartphone of the year through the end of October 2020, despite only being available for the last two weeks of that month.
The iPhone 12 also entered the top 10 bestseller list of 5G devices for January-October 2020, attaining the seventh position. This is a big achievement, considering the new iPhone series was available for only two weeks in October. Samsung's Galaxy Note 20 Ultra 5G, which was the best-selling 5G device in September, slipped to the third position.
Counterpoint says that, in addition to the new iPhones featuring mmWave in the United States, the combination of demand for a 5G-enabled iPhone and strong carrier promotions led to the success of the new iPhone lineup.
There is a large pent-up demand for 5G upgrade, especially within the iOS base, which is now getting converted into sales. This was complemented by strong carrier promos, especially in the US, which accounted for over one-third of the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro sales for the month. All carriers were offering the iPhone 12 for $0 through a mix of the trade-in and unlimited plans. China and Japan also saw strong initial demand for the iPhone 12 series. Compared to most of the other 5G models, which have a regional presence, the iPhone 12 has a wider market coverage – it is available in over 140 countries, thus helping sales.
The report expects that sales will continue strong through the end of the year and expects the iPhone 12 to continue to make its way closer to the #1 spot on that best-selling 5G smartphone of the year list.
