Samsung loses largest smartphone-maker title to Apple

Apple’s iPhone overtook Samsung’s devices to rank as the world’s best-selling smartphone in 2023.

It marks the South Korean company’s exit from the top spot, which it held since 2010.

Apple recorded 234.6 million iPhone shipments in 2023, accounting for 20.1 per cent of the global market, with an annual growth of 3.7 per cent, according to the latest preliminary data from International Data Corporation. Samsung’s smartphone shipments declined 13.6 per cent to 226.6 million, a market share of 19.4 per cent, IDC’s data showed.

China’s Xiaomi was third with 145.9 million shipments, accounting for a market share of 12.5 per cent, according to the US research company.

Rounding off the top five were Chinese smartphone makers Oppo and Transsion.

“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,” said Nabila Popal, research director with IDC’s Worldwide Tracker team.

“Apple’s continuing success and resilience is in large part due to the increasing trend of premium devices, which now represent over 20 per cent of the market, fuelled by aggressive trade-in offers and interest-free financing plans.”

Apple is the only global player among the top three to register positive growth. Apple’s dethroning of Samsung in the smartphones market over a full year indicates that the Cupertino-based company is coping better than its competitors with an industry-wide decline over the past two years.

Global smartphone shipments declined 3.2 per cent annually to 1.17 billion units in 2023, according to IDC data. This marks the lowest fullyear volume in a decade, driven largely by macroeconomic challenges and elevated inventory early in the year, it said.

However, growth in the second half of last year has cemented the expected recovery for 2024.

In the fourth quarter of 2023, worldwide smartphone shipments climbed 8.5 per cent on an annual basis to 326.1 million units, higher than the estimated 7.3 per cent growth.

“Overall, the global smartphone market remains challenged, but momentum is moving quickly towards recovery,” IDC said.

The upturn in 2024 is fuelled by the growth of emerging market economies, a resurgence in consumer spending, an increase in average selling prices and the swift integration of generative artificial intelligence devices, industry analysts said.

They said the recovery will be evident in two main ways. First, there is a chance for the markets that faced supply shortages due to coronavirus-induced import controls to bounce back.

Second, companies have overcome the difficulties of having too much inventory, which was a problem in the past one to two years. Now, they are back to their regular schedules for releasing products and shipping them.

“The overall shift in ranking at the top of the market further highlights the intensity of competition within the smartphone market,” Ryan Reith, group vice president at IDC’s Worldwide Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers, said.

While Apple played a part in Samsung’s drop in rank, the overall Android market is diversifying within itself, he said.

Apple is also facing renewed competition from Huawei in China, its largest market.

“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,” Mr Reith said.