Apple becomes the top-selling smartphone brand by surpassing Samsung and Xiaomi in worldwide smartphone sales during the fourth quarter of 2020.

Apple also claimed a market share of 20.8 percent in the 4th quarter of 2020, according to data reported by Gartner. This is a sharp turnaround from a market share of 17.3 percent during the same quarter last year.

It is important to note that Apple edged out Samsung with 79,942.7 sales in the fourth quarter of 2020, whereas the android manufacturer was only able to make 62,117 sales in the same quarter.

While Samsung's sales continued to rise in 2020, Apple was able to take over the first position with the highest sales in late 2020.

However, it is also important to note that the overall global sales of smartphones declined by 5.4% in the fourth quarter of 2020, despite an a year-on-year increase in sales for Apples, Samsung, Xiaomi and OPPO.

Moreover, sales of Huawei also witnessed a decline of 41.1 percent in sales in the fourth quarter of 2020 as compared to the same time last year. As on-going sanctions in the United States cripple the company's smartphone sales, the Huawei's market share also fell to 8.9 percent during the fourth quarter of 2020.