It has always been said that Apple sells a lot of phones, but not more than the Chinese and Korean giants. And this was true until Huawei was banished for alleged espionage and Samsung fell behind in a really tough 2023.
Preliminary data shows that Apple has surpassed Samsung with the first place in worldwide smartphone shipments for 2023, in addition to being the only one of the top three companies with positive growth in the year.
The reason for Samsung’s success for a whole decade is that it sells dozens of smartphones ranging from budget models to premium foldable ones worth $2,000. This variety and price range is what has made Samsung the number one market share annually since 2010, until now.
Samsung moves to 2nd place and Apple to 1st
According to IDC data, Apple has surpassed Samsung as the number one in market share of worldwide smartphone shipments until 2023. Apple had a market share of 20.1% in 2023 compared to Samsung’s 19.4%.
Among the top three – Apple, Samsung, and Xiaomi – Apple is the only company that has increased shipments year over year. It has gone from 226.3 million units to 234.6 million.
“While we saw strong growth from low-end Android players like Transsion and Xiaomi in the second half of 2023, driven by rapid growth in emerging markets, the clear winner is Apple,” said Nabila Popal, research director of IDC’s Worldwide Tracker team.
“Apple is not only the only player in the Top 3 that shows annual positive growth, but also takes the number 1 annual position for the first time in history,” he concludes.
Diversification within Android smartphone shipments also contributed to Samsung losing the top position. Smartphone manufacturers such as Huawei, Honor, and OnePlus have competitive devices in lower price ranges.
The smartphone market decreased by 3.2% to 1.17 billion units shipped in 2023. However, the growth in the second half of 2023 is promising for a market recovery in 2024.
The Apple iPhone 15 family was launched in September 2023, but most of the year was dominated by sales of the iPhone 14. Despite occupying the top spot in terms of market share in 2023, Apple’s global revenues have decreased every quarter of 2023.
