Apple iPhone 11 remains popular, surpasses iPhone XR sales

$1,000+ smartphones are still not a good value proposition for most people

Editor's take: With iPhone 12 inching closer to its release later this year, it's interesting to look at how well Apple's current generation of iPhone has performed, especially in the context of the lockdown measures that have put a lot of strain on the global supply chain of tech companies, as well as people having less disposable income for expensive purchases.

Apple turned in a record holiday quarter in 2019 thanks to strong demand for the iPhone 11, and it looks like that trend has continued in 2020. According to a report from Omdia, the iPhone 11 managed to steal the title of "world's most popular smartphone" from the iPhone XR - which according to CounterPoint Research was selling like hotcakes to people who are looking to get the most iPhone for their dollar.

Omdia says that Apple shipped 19.5 million iPhone 11s in the first quarter of this year, thanks to its relative affordability compared to the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max, as well as being a well-rounded iPhone for most people. This is even more impressive when you consider that it achieved these numbers despite global smartphone shipments experiencing their biggest decline in history in March.

By comparison, Samsung's Galaxy A51 only sold around 6.8 million units, followed closely by Xiaomi's Redmi Note 8 which sold 6.6 million units. Still, eight out of the top 10 smartphones by shipment volume were made by either Apple or Samsung, and even the Galaxy S20+ 5G made it into the list with 3.5 million units.

Samsung took the crown from Huawei for the bes-tselling 5G handset, and overall 5G smartphone shipments for the top five spots add up to 13.8 million units, signalling that appetite for 5G handsets may be growing as deployment of the required infrastructure is ramping up.