Since 2010, Samsung has always been the leader
For the first time, Apple overtook Samsung in the global smartphone market at the end of 2023 and led it, according to research company IDC. The last time Samsung lost leadership was in 2010, when Nokia had a third of the market.
In general, the global smartphone market is still experiencing difficulties, but the recovery trend continues. Global smartphone shipments fell 3.2% year-on-year to 1.17 billion units in 2023, according to IDC. Although this is the lowest annual volume in a decade, the fourth quarter saw growth of 8.5% year-over-year to 326.1 million units, which was higher than the 7.3% forecast.
«While we saw significant growth among low-end Android players such as Transsion and Xiaomi in the second half of 2023, driven by rapid growth in emerging markets, the biggest winner is clearly Apple, — said Nabila Popal, research director at IDC Worldwide Tracker. — Not only is Apple the only player in the top three to show positive growth every year, but it also ranks number one in the world for the first time in history. All this despite increasing regulatory challenges and renewed competition from Huawei in China, its biggest market. Apple's continued success and resilience can largely be attributed to the growing trend toward more premium devices, which now make up more than 20% of the market, fueled by aggressive trade-in offers and interest-free financing plans.
Ryan Reith, group vice president of IDC Worldwide Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers, added that Huawei is back and quickly capturing the market in China. Brands like OnePlus, Honor, Google and others are releasing very competitive devices in the lower end of the market. Foldable devices and the growing conversation about artificial intelligence capabilities on smartphones are gaining momentum: «Overall the smartphone market is heading towards a very interesting time».