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According to IDC, a research firm, global smartphone shipments dropped by 10% in the first quarter of 2024 due to increasing competition among Android smartphone makers. However, the total number of global smartphone shipments still increased by 7.8% to 289.4 million units from January to March. Samsung emerged as the top phone maker, with a 20.8% market share, pushing Apple to second place with a 17.3% market share.
This was largely due to the growth of Chinese brands like Huawei, while Samsung shipped over 60 million phones during the period, mostly thanks to its latest flagship smartphone lineup, the Galaxy S24 series. Sales of the Galaxy S24 smartphones went up by 8% compared to the Galaxy S23 series from last year, during the first three weeks of availability, according to data provider Counterpoint.
Apple shipped 50.1 million iPhones in the first quarter, down from 55.4 million units it shipped in the same period last year. Meanwhile, Apple’s smartphone shipments in China decreased by 2.1% in the final quarter of 2023 compared to a year earlier, reflecting the challenges facing the U.S. firm in its third biggest market. Chinese companies and government agencies have also limited employees’ use of Apple devices, similar to U.S. government restrictions on Chinese apps for security reasons.
During its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June, investors will be keen to hear about Apple's artificial intelligence (AI) development. So far, the company has been tight-lipped about integrating AI technology into its devices. This is significant because earlier this year, Apple lost its position as the world’s most valuable company to Microsoft.
The preliminary data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker shows that global smartphone shipments increased by 7.8% year over year to 289.4 million units in the first quarter of 2024, indicating that the smartphone market is on the way to recovery. This is the third consecutive quarter of shipment growth. However, macroeconomic challenges still remain in many markets, indicating that the industry is not completely out of the woods yet.
Ryan Reith, group vice president with IDC's Worldwide Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers, said that the smartphone market is moving forward as expected, with market optimism slowly building among the top brands. Although Apple captured the top spot at the end of 2023, Samsung has successfully reasserted itself as the leading smartphone provider in the first quarter.
While IDC expects these two companies to maintain their hold on the high end of the market, the resurgence of Huawei in China, as well as notable gains from Xiaomi, Transsion, OPPO/OnePlus, and vivo will likely have both OEMs looking for areas to expand and diversify. As the recovery progresses, we're likely to see the top companies gain share as the smaller brands struggle for positioning.
Xiaomi is coming back strong from the large declines experienced over the past two years, and Transsion is becoming a stable presence in the Top 5 with aggressive growth in international markets. In contrast, while the Top 2 players both saw negative growth in the first quarter, it seems Samsung is in a stronger position overall than they were in recent quarters.
