Report: Apple surpasses Samsung to become the leading global smartphone market share holder
Apple has overtaken Samsung to become the world’s largest smartphone maker by market share in 2023, according to International Data Corporation (IDC), marking the first time in more than a decade that the top spot has changed hands.
According to the report, this development is a direct result of its increased deliveries across the board. In the fourth quarter of 2023, Apple shipped a total of 80.5 million iPhone units, up 11.6% year-over-year.
That’s despite global smartphone shipments falling 3.2% year-over-year to 1.17 billion units in 2023. And right now, Apple has a commanding 20.1% market share compared to Samsung’s 19.4% and Xiaomi’s 12.5%: i.
IDC notes that Apple’s growth is primarily due to its growing popularity in emerging markets. “While we saw some strong growth from lower-cost 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,” IDC said.
In addition, Apple is the only company in the top three (Apple, Samsung and Xiaomi) to show positive annual growth despite increasing competition from Chinese brands such as Huawei.
The report also notes that Apple’s growth and Samsung’s decline are partly due to the Android market’s “diversification itself.” Huawei is certainly back on track, and other companies like Google and OnePlus are launching competitive products.
However, the current top five smartphone companies in terms of total smartphone shipments in 2023 are:
– Apple: 234.6 million
– Samsung: 226.6 million
– Xiaomi: 145.9 million
– Oppo: 103.1 million
– Transfer: 94.9 million
