Apple has overtaken Samsung in terms of smartphone shipments for the first time ever, according to a new market research report.
It’s a strange but well-established fact that, for as competitive as the smartphone war between Apple and Samsung can get, the latter always holds a market advantage. The reason for that is nothing too mysterious – Samsung simply sells way more different phones at a much broader range of price points, while Apple sticks to three or four premium models every year.
That’s how it’s been for the past 13 years, when Samsung first overtook Nokia to become the biggest smartphone maker in the world. Not so in 2023, it seems.
According to IDC, Apple took the top spot for the first time last year, together with a record high market share. The market research firm claims that Apple took a 20.1 percent market share in 2023, while Samsung dropped to 19.4percent.
While global smartphone shipments declined 3.2 percent year over year, Apple was the only top smartphone maker to show positive growth in 2023. It seems premium phones have remained resilient through this downturn, and now represent 20 percent of the market.
While the strong performance of the iPhone 14 and, latterly, iPhone 15 ranges certainly played a part, another reason comes from an increasingly competitive Android market. Strong and competitively priced offerings from Xiaomi, OnePlus, Honor, and indeed Google are making life hard for Samsung.
It’s also noteworthy that Huawei is making a bit of a comeback in its native China, which happens to be the largest smartphone market in the world.
While the smartphone market is down in 2023, IDC sees signs of a resurgence in 2024. There’s plenty of reasons for Samsung to remain hopeful of a return to the top, too.
The foldable market is on the up, while new AI features are creating new interest in an otherwise fairly mature market. Samsung, of course, was the single biggest early driver in the foldable market, while tomorrow’s Galaxy S24 reveal is expected to go big on AI.
