Apple is now back to the top of the global smartphone makers’ ranking, as reported by research firm Gartner. According to the firm, Apple sold about 80 million in the final three months of 2020.

This follows the launch of the iPhone 12 late last year that helped the American iPhone maker overtake Samsung who have occupied the throne since 2016.

The iPhone 12 is one of those few premium smartphone lineups that seemed to bring something different across all four models. Moreover, the new design that paid homage to the old iPhone is one that received really positive reviews across the globe.

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The release of the 5G iPhone 12, later on, was also explained by Gartner as a cause for the surge in numbers for Apple.  According to the lead analyst, Annette Zimmerman, 15% of Apple’s sales in Q4 2020 had benefitted from the re-release of the 5G iPhone.

While it is surprising that Samsung was overtaken, it is quite predictable that the figures will be totally different by the end of Q2 2021. This is mostly because the South Korean firm tends to have launched so many phones on the mid-range and budget price segments which will propel its general sales by then.

Meanwhile, Huawei also suffered a slide, with smartphone sales declining 41%. This was associated with the sanctions imposed by the U.S government thus ending any business with Google. The Chinese tech giant fell to fifth place in the list, below rivals Xiaomi and OPPO.

This happens to be the first time since 2013, that Huawei has not been among the top four phone makers in the world in a given quarter.

Second-place Samsung had its sales drop by 12% in the same quarter and 15% over the course of 2020. This is as the likes of OPPO, Xiaomi and Vivo ate into its share in the midfield while Apple led.