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iPhone leads December smartphone activations in the US, significantly outpacing Samsung

More data is coming in on iPhone and smartphone sales in the US during the important December timeframe. We saw in a previous report from Flurry Analytics that iPhone took the top 9 of 10 smartphone activations on Christmas Day. Now the firm has shared data on how iPhone stacked up against the competition for all of December and the iPhone handily dominated the market, which included beating Samsung by a wide margin.

Flurry’s new report today kicks off by highlighting how important December is for smartphone makers – it’s “by far the highest month for new device activations in the United States.” And this year saw a notable drop in overall activation to the tune of a 20% decrease. Fully attributes that pullback to the pandemic and was just below the 23% drop in activations for Christmas Day compared to last year.

Depsite that, Apple dominated the entire month of December with iPhone making up 7 of the top 10 activated smartphones in the US. iPhone 11 took the number one spot followed by iPhone 12 Pro Max and iPhone 12.

Interestingly, The LG Stylo grabbed spot number 8 ahead of Samsung’s Galaxy A11 taking spot 10.

iPhone most popular smartphone US December 2020

Flurry highlights that many of the popular smartphones/iPhone activated this year were older models that are more affordable. However, the iPhone 12 Pro Max and iPhone 12 taking spots two and three were a testament that many “Apple loyalists want the most advanced smartphone Apple has to offer.” As a previous report suggested less interest in the iPhone 12 mini, and corroborating that, it didn’t make the list in Flurry’s data for top activated US smartphones.

With iPhone claiming the majority of the most sold smartphones, it almost took half of the total at 46%. Samsung was second with 27% share, followed by “Others” at 17%.

Flurry notes that while Apple dominates the US smartphone market, Samsung does remain the most popular manufacturer globally.

iPhone most popular smartphone US December 2020 market share

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