Apple tops Samsung in worldwide smartphone shipments for the primary time

Apple’s iPhone has overtaken Samsung for the primary time ever because the best-selling smartphone in 2023, in line with a new report from IDC. The tech big accounted for 20% of the worldwide market with 234.6 million shipments final yr. Samsung closed the yr with 226.6 million shipments, whereas Xiaomi and Oppo noticed 145.9 and 103.1 shipments, respectively. Transsion rounded out the highest 5 with 94.9 million shipments.

The report notes that the final time an organization apart from Samsung was on the high of the smartphone market was in 2010, when Nokia ranked first.

“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,” stated Nabila Popal, analysis director with IDC’s Worldwide Tracker workforce, in a press launch. “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.”

Popal went on to notice that Apple ranked first regardless of elevated regulatory challenges and competitors from Huawei in China, which is its largest market. The report comes as Apple is at present providing rare discounts on a few of its smartphones in China in a bid to draw clients. The analysis agency says Apple’s ongoing success is especially as a result of “increasing trend of premium devices, which now represent over 20% of the market, fueled by aggressive trade-in offers and interest-free financing plans.”

Picture Credit: IDC

IDC says though Apple performed a component in Samsung’s drop in rank, it’s price noting that there was competitors throughout the Android area itself, as OnePlus, Honor, Google and others are launching aggressive units within the lower cost vary of the excessive finish scale. Plus, foldables and talks round AI capabilities on the smartphones are gaining traction.

In accordance with the report, world smartphone shipments declined 3.2% yr over yr to 1.17 billion models in 2023.

“While this marks the lowest full-year volume in a decade, driven largely by macroeconomic challenges and elevated inventory early in the year, growth in the second half of the year has cemented the expected recovery for 2024,” IDC outlined. “The fourth quarter (4Q23) saw 8.5% year-over-year growth and 326.1 million shipments, higher than the forecast of 7.3% growth.”