iPhone 12 Was World's Best-selling 5G Smartphone in October [Report]

The iPhone 12 was the world's best-selling 5G smartphone in October, according to a new report from Counterpoint Research.

The achievement is impressive considering the iPhone 12 only had two weeks of sales during the month. The iPhone 12 Pro was the second best-selling 5G smartphone model that month. In total, the two devices captured close to one quarter of the total 5G smartphones in October.

Notably, with only two weeks of sales, the iPhone 12 also made the top ten bestseller list of 5G devices for January to October 2020, placing seventh.


Counterpoint believes there strong pent-up demand for 5G. This, combined with strong carrier promos, helped drive sales. Additionally, Apple's iPhone 12 is available in over 140 countries increasing its overall reach.

The iPhone 12 series has also given a push to mmWave. The iPhone 12 and 12 Pro for the US are capable of mmWave support. As a result, the penetration of mmWave capable smartphones increased to 12% in October compared to 5% in September. The popularity of the iPhone 12 also means that there will be a large installed base of mmWave capable devices in the US. This is important because it gives operators an incentive to deploy mmWave infrastructure rapidly. The high throughput and low latency provided by mmWave will help unlock the true potential of 5G. With the mmWave network and devices in place, it would lay a solid foundation for Apple to leverage the power of mmWave in segments like AR/VR.

Counterpoint expects demand to remain strong for iPhone 12 models through the fourth quarter, especially in December. More details in the full report linked below...

Read More