Apple Shifted iPhone Supply to North America in Q1, Grabbed 51% Share: Canalys

North American smartphone shipments reached 39 million units in Q1 “buoyed by Apple’s strong growth,” said Canalys Thursday. The iPhone 13’s “strong performance” drove a 19% increase to 19.9 million shipments, giving Apple 51% market share in the quarter, said analyst Brian Lynch. With global demand “more uncertain,” Apple shifted more devices back into North America after prioritizing other regions in Q4, allowing it to fulfill more demand and deliver on backorders from the previous quarter, Lynch said. The launch of the latest iPhone SE gave the region's “fiercely loyal iOS users" an affordable option. Though the SE is not mmWave-enabled, carriers’ increasing investments in C-band and sub-6GHz spectrums “will open the door for the iPhone SE’s market growth in the coming quarters,” Lynch said.