Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,294
30,378


Apple shipped an estimated 40.4 million iPhone 12 devices during the first quarter of 2021, according to new data shared by Strategy Analytics. The figure suggests Apple has maintained its grip on the global 5G smartphone market, despite indicating a 23% dip compared to the fourth quarter of 2020, when Apple shipped 52.2 million units.

iPhone-12-Most-Popular-Feature.jpg

Apple enjoyed booming sales in the 5G market in the three months following the launch of in first 5G-equipped iPhone models, but since then its rivals have upped their game in an increasingly competitive premium smartphone market by releasing new 5G models.

Chinese vendor Oppo took second place in the same quarter, shipping 21.5 million units for a 15.8% market share, up 55% from the fourth quarter of last year. Fellow Sino-mobile maker Vivo managed to ship 19.4 million units, a 62% gain on the last quarter.

Samsung took fourth place with 17 million 5G handsets shipped, earning it just 12.5% of the market but a sizeable 79% growth on Q4 2020. Xiaomi shipped 16.6 million units during the quarter, taking 12.2% of the market, up 41% quarter-over-quarter.

q1-2021-5g-market-strategy-analytics.jpg
"Samsung is performing well with new 5G models, such as Galaxy S21 5G, S21 ultra 5G and S21+ 5G, in South Korea, North America, and parts of Europe," said Ville-Petteri Ukonaho, associate director at Strategy Analytics. "Meanwhile, Apple dipped 23% QoQ, following a blowout Q4 2020 where the new 5G iPhone was wildly popular as a gift during the holiday season.

"We forecast global 5G smartphone shipments to reach a record 624 million units for the full-year 2021, soaring from 269 million in full-year 2020."
All of the iPhones in Apple's iPhone 12 lineup support 5G, but not all 5G networks are equal. There's the super fast mmWave (millimeter wave) 5G and the slower but more widespread sub-6GHz 5G.

Apple currently only sells the mmWave iPhone 12 in the United States, which allocates to only 30-35% of overall ‌iPhone 12‌ shipments. However, support for sub-6Ghz 5G networks appears to have been enough to fuel the demand for iPhone 12 models more globally.

Apple is planning to increase the availability of 5G mmWave capable iPhone models to more countries around the world with the release of the iPhone 13 later this year, offering even more customers access to the faster and newer technology where the infrastructure is increasingly becoming more widely available, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

Article Link: Apple Maintains 5G Market Lead in Q1 2021 Despite Vivo and Samsung Gains
 

kevinpdoyle

macrumors member
May 2, 2012
91
386
Does anyone actually use the 5G capabilities? It would cost me $25 more to turn it on with AT&T, so I haven’t.
 

IceStormNG

macrumors 6502a
Sep 23, 2020
517
671
There's barely any 5G here. Most is 5G with LTE anchor which, ahah, the iPhone doesn't support.

But anyway. LTE is fast enough for me (about 200MB/s). 5G is nice on paper... but it doesn't add a lot of benefit. Especially considering the battery impact it has.
 
Jun 7, 2021
194
589
We’ve all switched back to LTE. We found that when 5G works it works quite well but for whatever reason it seemed like 25% of the time even with full bars we wouldn’t be able to load data.

I’m sure it’s just a matter of time just like it was with LTE but 5G just doesn’t matter (yet).
 

ian87w

macrumors G3
Feb 22, 2020
8,704
12,633
Indonesia
What I like about this 5G adoption is that even now, there are already modems that can support dual 5G. This is in contrast with 3G and 4G, where it took forever to have dual 3G and dual 4G modems (most dual SIM phones back then only support 1 SIM in 3G/4G, while the 2nd SIM is in crappy 2G).

I’m proud to say that even Indonesia now has a 5G roadmap, despite even VoLTE support is still poor (only 1 carrier out of 5 has wide VoLTE support, 2 only support VoLTE on select few handsets and only for same carrier calling). The push for 5G, whether I like it or not, at least is forcing these carriers to move on their butt and do something.
 
  • Like
Reactions: subi257

Mr. Dee

macrumors 603
Dec 4, 2003
5,990
12,826
Jamaica
If I had bought an iPhone 12 just for the benefit of 5G it would be a waste of money. Working from home most of the year, WiFi did all I needed. I‘m sure at some point it’s gonna be a no brained to have. But right now my cheap 2 GB data plan from T-MOBILE does all I need. Most public places I go to I just hop on the free wi-if. Yes and I know about the security risks yadayada
 

IIGS User

macrumors 65816
Feb 24, 2019
1,092
3,063
When you can get the mm wave 5G it rocks the Kasbah. Some of the beach towns within driving distance of my home have it, and parts of the metro area I live in have it. It's impressive.

At least when running a speed test. Otherwise LTE is sufficient for everything else.

It is nice to have when we're down the beach. I use it to stream Amazon & Hulu as opposed to the hotel wifi. Which usually stinks.

And I stay in nice places. Booted enough doors in at flea trap hotels to know it's worth putting out an extra buck for a nice property. Even if all it means is the pool is clean and the hallways are safe to walk at 2 AM...
 
  • Like
Reactions: subi257

Madhatter32

macrumors 65816
Apr 17, 2020
1,448
2,902
5G represents complete freedom to go anywhere and be able to get stream anything. I like it and am excited for widespread adoption.
 
  • Like
Reactions: subi257

velocityg4

macrumors 604
Dec 19, 2004
7,328
4,716
Georgia
All of the iPhones in Apple's iPhone 12 lineup support 5G, but not all 5G networks are equal. There's the super fast mmWave (millimeter wave) 5G and the slower but more widespread sub-6GHz 5G.

Apple currently only sells the mmWave iPhone 12 in the United States, which allocates to only 30-35% of overall ‌iPhone 12‌ shipments. However, support for sub-6Ghz 5G networks appears to have been enough to fuel the demand for iPhone 12 models more globally.

I really don't think this matters to most buyers. They don't know what any of this means. All they know is 5G is a higher number than 4G. Thus it must be better and faster.
 

ToadyBlegh

Suspended
May 28, 2021
17
9
I just got my second COVID vax and the 5g is AMAZING. Really makes everything better.

Seriously, though, we have almost full rollout of fast 5g in my area and I haven't noticed any different. I don't really use my phone for complex processing in the cloud or whatever and haven't noticed any massive improvement, even in watching videos or playing on-line games. Fast internet makes sense for a personal computer but, seriously, how many people need a 10 gig connection speed on their phone? Most of the issues it technically solves for, like network slicing and latency, were networks issues that could have been solved at a network level. Sadly, many of those network challenges will remain because most network providers are terrible and take you for granted.
 

motulist

macrumors 601
Dec 2, 2003
4,234
611
4G LTE is already fast enough to do absolutely everything and instantly. Webpages load up instantly, songs start playing immediately, and video calls are in high quality with no lag. If that's not the speed you're getting on 4G then the problem is the service company you use.
 

falainber

macrumors 68040
Mar 16, 2016
3,413
3,979
Wild West
Remember when people said Apple were taking too long to add 5G and that Android opposition are going to be way ahead… well….
Android vendors were ahead. And these numbers are meaningless since essentially all iPhone models (at least the new ones) are 5G models. People are buying them not because they are 5G but because they have no choice. With Android, one has a choice and people in countries without 5G (most of the countries?) simply decide to buy 4G phones and not to pay for something they don't need.
 

TallManNY

macrumors 601
Nov 5, 2007
4,728
1,582
I don't get the instance by journalist to make this conclusion:

However, support for sub-6Ghz 5G networks appears to have been enough to fuel the demand for ‌iPhone 12‌ models more globally.

There seems to be a completely unsupported leap made by journalists that purchases of new smartphones which happen to have 5G support are happening because of that 5G ability instead of the many other potential reasons. We see this again and again in article after article. While in reality I sit here with my iPhone 12 never noticing any difference in 5G versus 4G. I bought an iPhone 12 mini because of (A) size and (B) it was an upgrade in many ways over the XS I was previously using. That list of many improvements include 5G, but it certainly did not fuel my demand for the 12.
 

bn-7bc

macrumors 6502a
May 30, 2008
607
198
Arendal, Norway
Does anyone actually use the 5G capabilities? It would cost me $25 more to turn it on with AT&T, so I haven’t.
This must be a US thing, I've not seen a 5G fee fere in norway, as long as there us 5G coverage in the areay you are in ( narionwide coverage by at least one mno ( and by extension all the vmnos that use their network) by the end if nex year
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.