Apple tops Samsung for first time in world smartphone shipments

For the primary time ever, Apple beat out Samsung to ship essentially the most smartphones in a 12 months in line with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Cellular Telephone Tracker. Though IDC cautions that its knowledge is preliminary and topic to vary, a second analysis company, Canalys, additionally has Apple taking its prime spot for all of 2023. IDC has Apple’s complete cellular shipments at 234.6 million, versus 226.6 million for Samsung. Xiaomi, Oppo, and Transsion spherical out the highest 5 with 145.9, 103.1 and 94.9 million smartphones shipped, respectively. 

IDC notes that the final time Samsung wasn’t on prime of the annual board was 13 years in the past in 2010. Again then Apple didn’t even function within the prime 5. As an alternative it was Nokia in first place, Samsung in second, LG Electronics in third, ZTE in fourth, and Analysis in Movement (producers of BlackBerry units) in fifth. If you happen to wanted any proof that 13 years is a very long time within the smartphone trade, then this checklist of firms could be it.

“Not solely is Apple the one participant within the Prime 3 to point out optimistic development yearly, but in addition luggage the #1 spot yearly for the primary time ever,” stated IDC’s Worldwide Tracker group analysis director Nabila Popal. “Apple’s ongoing success and resilience is largely as a result of growing development of premium units, which now characterize over 20% of the market, fueled by aggressive trade-in presents and interest-free financing plans.”

Though IDC notes that Apple performed a key half in knocking Samsung off the highest spot, the corporate additionally noticed intense competitors from different Android producers like Huawei, OnePlus, Honor, and Google. It’s not simply Samsung that’s being challenged by these firms, Canalys notes that Huawei’s “enhancing energy” may be an issue for Apple’s development within the Chinese language market. Final 12 months reviews emerged that Huawei had managed to beat US sanctions and construct a complicated 7nm processor from Chinese language chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing Worldwide Corp. (SMIC) into its Mate 60 Professional smartphone able to 5G speeds.

Whereas general smartphone shipments declined 3.2 p.c in 2023 versus 2022, there are indicators that the market may be recovering from its latest stoop. IDC reviews that shipments grew 8.5 p.c year-on-year within the fourth quarter, whereas Canalys has it rising 8 p.c after seven straight quarters of declines.