For the first time since 2010, Samsung wasn’t the most-shipped smartphone around the globe in 2023. Apple and its popular iPhone topped the list for the first time, shipping an estimated 234.6 million units, according to a report from International Data Group on Tuesday.
It’s a milestone for Apple, which saw an all-time-high market share of 20.1% for the iPhone. And it’s poorly timed news for Samsung, which is expected to debut its rumored Galaxy S24 phone series on Wednesday at its Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event.
Want to put it in perspective? The last time Samsung wasn’t in the top phone spot, it was Nokia. Back then, Apple didn’t even crack the top five, Engadget reports.
Since then, Apple and Samsung have been duking it out for the top spot, with Apple ranking first in a few quarterly phone shipment reports, but Samsung retaining the annual shipments crown until now. Apple launched the iPhone 15 lineup in September last year.
Things could be looking up for the smartphone market, according to technology research agency IDC — despite global smartphone shipments declining 3.2% year over year, falling to 1.17 billion units in 2023, the lowest full-year volume in a decade. Growth in the second half of the year has cemented an expected 2024 recovery, with the fourth quarter seeing a higher-than-expected 8.5% growth, above the forecast 7.3% growth.
“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,” Nabila Popal, research director with IDC’s Worldwide Tracker team, said in a statement.
Popal noted that Apple’s success comes despite facing increased regulatory challenges and renewed competition from Huawei in China, its largest market. She credited the company’s success in large part to consumer desire for premium devices, which now represent over 20% of the market.
And things are likely going to stay competitive.
“The…
Read the full article here