Apple Is The New Undisputed King Of Smartphones, Overtakes Samsung
Apple has dethroned arch-rival Samsung to emerge as the largest seller of smartphones in the world.
According to a report from International Data Corp, the iPhone maker sold 234.6 million units of its smartphone in 2023 compared to 226.6 million units sold by Samsung during the same period.
Smartphone sales in 2023
Apple had a market share of 20% in 2023, while it was 19.4% for Samsung.
Phone shipments from Samsung were down 13.6%, while iPhone shipments were up 3.7% last year, according to IDC data.
Samsung lost its top spot after 12 years
This is the first time in 12 years, that Samsung has been unseated as the largest seller of smartphones in the world.
Chinese tech giant, Huawei had briefly overtaken Samsung in 2020, in terms of quarterly sales.
Huawei had shipped 55.8 million devices in April-June 2022, which was more than Samsung's 53.7 million in the same period.
However, Huawei could not maintain its momentum and soon after this, the company was hit by tough US sanctions, that almost destroyed its smartphone business overnight.
What went wrong for Samsung
While Samsung is not far behind iPhone sales in terms of units sold, analysts say that the South Korean tech behemoth lost its market share to China¡¯s Xiaomi, Oppo and Transsion, which sells smartphones under TECNO, Infinix, and itel brands.
They also pointed to an increasingly fragmented market for smartphones that run on the Android operating system, citing low-end Samsung rivals such as Transsion and Xiaomi as well as Honor and Google.
The success of Huawei's well-received offerings in China also had an effect on Samsung's drop in sales, the IDC said.
Apple vs Samsung vs Chinese smartphone makers?
Apple and Transsion were the only two of the top five smartphone vendors to record sales growth last year, even though the overall market declined 3.2% to 1.17 billion units and hit a decade low.
¡°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,¡± said Nabila Popal, research director at IDC¡¯s Worldwide Tracker team.
Samsung focused on the mid-to-high-end segment for profitability but lost share in the low-end segment, said Amber Liu of research firm Canalys.
Apple, however, is facing pressure in China from a resurgent Huawei as well as from budget Chinese brands. The iPhone maker is offering discounts of as much as 5% on some models in the country to attract customers.
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