Apple Unseats Samsung As World's Top Smartphone Vendor In Q4

$Apple (AAPL.US)$ Reigns Supreme: Cupertino's share of worldwide smartphone shipments stood at 22% in the fourth quarter, according to a preliminary report from Canalys. That's an increase from the 14% market share the iPhone held in the third quarter, and reclaims Apple's top spot in terms of smartphone shipments after a 3-year hiatus.

Why It's Important: Apple is scheduled to report the financial results for its holiday quarter on Jan. 27. Analysts, on average, expect the company to report earnings of $1.89 per share on revenues of $118.28 billion, which would mark a record topline number.

Last week, KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Brandon Nispel said Apple is tracking ahead of hardware expectations in the U.S., while internationally, adoption is increasing due to extremely low penetration, increasing affluence of consumers and 5G upgrades.