After 12 years at the top of the global smartphone market, Samsung was dethroned by Apple in 2023.
The iPhone maker achieved a record market share and a first time at the top. This comes on the back of strong performance driven by its premium devices, which appealed to consumers amid the challenging and recovering global smartphone market.
According to IDC, global smartphone shipments dipped 3.2 percent year over year to 1.17 billion units in 2023, the lowest full-year volume in a decade. The market was affected by macroeconomic challenges and elevated inventory early in the year, but saw growth in the second half of the year, especially in Q4, which saw 8.5 percent year-over-year growth and 326.1 million shipments.
Apple shipped 234.6 million iPhones worldwide in 2023, capturing 20.1 percent of the market share, up from 18.8 percent in 2022. Its success was attributed to its aggressive trade-in offers and interest-free financing plans, which boosted the demand for its premium devices, such as the iPhone 12 series, which supported 5G connectivity.
On the other hand, Samsung shipped 226.6 million smartphones worldwide in 2023, accounting for 19.4 percent of the market share, down from 21.7 percent in 2022. Samsung also faced fierce competition from other Android players, such as Xiaomi, Oppo, and vivo, which grew rapidly in emerging markets, such as India, Southeast Asia, and Africa.
Xiaomi, Transition and vivo complete the Top 5.
“While we saw some strong growth from low-end Android players like Transsion and Xiaomi in the second half of 2023, stemming from rapid growth in emerging markets, the biggest winner is clearly Apple. Not only is Apple the only player in the Top 3 to show positive growth annually, but also bags the number 1 spot annually for the first time ever,” said Nabila Popal, Research Director of IDC’s Worldwide Tracker team.
“The overall shift in ranking at the top of the market further highlights the intensity of competition within the smartphone market. Apple certainly played a part in Samsung’s drop in rank, but the overall Android space is diversifying within itself. Huawei is back and making inroads quickly within China, Brands like OnePlus, Honor, Google, and others are launching very competitive devices in the lower price range of the high end,” said Ryan Reith, Group Vice President of IDC’s Worldwide Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers.
Samsung fights back
Samsung hopes to regain some ground this quarter following the release of the Galaxy S24 series (top) today. The news smartphones — the Galaxy S24 Ultra, Galaxy S24+ and Galaxy S24 — come with AI capabillities that amplifies user experience from enabling barrier-free communication with intelligent text and call translations to a new way for searching.
“The Galaxy S24 series transforms our connection with the world and ignites the next decade of mobile innovation. Galaxy AI is built on our innovation heritage and deep understanding of how people use their phones. We’re excited to see how our users around the world empower their everyday lives with Galaxy AI to open up new possibilities,” said TM Roh, President and Head of Mobile eXperience (MX) Business at Samsung Electronics.
Entelechy Asia 