Samsung - world's top smartphone maker

South Korean tech giant, Samsung emerges as the world's top smartphone maker in the first quarter of 2024, against rival brand Apple, as iPhone shipments drop by nearly 10% year-over-year, conveys data from Internation Data Corporation (IDC), a market research firm, Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, released on April 15, 2024.

"As expected, smartphone recovery continues to move forward with market optimism slowly building among the top brands," Ryan Reith, group vice president with IDC's Worldwide Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers, said.

Apple contented at first place at the end of 2023, Samsung successfully reasserted itself as the leader in the market in Q1 2024, with a top spot 20.8% market share, boosted by strong sales of its latest Galaxy S24 series smartphones launched earlier this week, witnessing an impressive 8% increase, according to Counterpoint, a data provider.

The drop in iPhone sales comes amid a broader rebound in the global smartphone market, which saw shipments rise 7.8% to 289.4 million units. With a 17.3% market share, Apple dropped to second position, delivering 50.1 million iPhones as opposed to 55.4 million during the same time previous year. Chinese companies Huawei and Xiaomi also saw growth, with Xiaomi moving up to the third spot with a 14.1% market share.

Samsung
Image: DNP India

Apple faces difficulties in important regions like China, where certain businesses and government organizations restrict their employees' access to Apple products. The drop in iPhone shipments shows this. This reflects limitations on Chinese applications imposed by the US government due to security issues. Since releasing the most recent iteration of the iPhone in September, Apple has also had difficulty maintaining sales in China, the largest smartphone market in the world.

Despite the visible drop in unit sales, Apple is likely to have sold premium iPhone 15 Pro models, resulting in higher revenue per devices but since the company gave off unusual discounts of up to $180 on regular prices, through Chinese retail partners, which might have caused the inevitable drop.

"The smartphone market is emerging from the turbulence of the last two years both stronger and changed," said Nabila Popal, research director at IDC. "While the top two players both saw negative growth in the first quarter, it seems Samsung is in a stronger position overall than they were in recent quarters."

IDC expects the top two companies to maintain their hold on the high end of the market. However, the rise of Huawei in China along with noteworthy successes from Transsion, OPPO/OnePlus, Vivo, and Xiaomi will probably force both OEMs to look for new markets to enter and diversify into. The research went on to say that IDC expects to see a resurgence, with the top corporations gaining market as lesser brands battle for placement.

Popal further said, “Firstly, we continue to see growth in value and average selling prices (ASPs) as consumers opt for more expensive devices knowing they will hold onto their devices longer. Secondly, there is a shift in power among the Top 5 companies, which will likely continue as market players adjust their strategies in a post-recovery world."

With its headquarters located in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley, Apple Inc. (formerly known as Apple Computer, Inc.) is an American multinational business and technology firm. In 1977, Steve Jobs and Wozniak formed the business. On the other hand, Samsung Group is a worldwide industrial corporation based in Suwon, South Korea, with its headquarters situated in Samsung Digital City. Lee Byung-Chul established Samsung as a trade corporation in 1938.

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