iPhone market share dropped 9.6%; Samsung retakes lead

Global iPhone market share dropped 9.6% year-on-year in the first quarter of the year, enabling Samsung to retake the smartphone lead despite failing to increase its own shipments.

Apple saw the biggest slump of any brand, at a time when the global smartphone market as a whole continues to grow …

Market intelligence company IDC estimates that the global smartphone market increased by 7.8% last quarter.

Global smartphone shipments increased 7.8% year over year to 289.4 million units in the first quarter of 2024 (1Q24). While the industry is not completely out of the woods, as macroeconomic challenges remain in many markets, this marks the third consecutive quarter of shipment growth, a strong indicator that a recovery is well underway.

The company said that continued growth is fuelling optimism among smartphone makers, and while smaller brands were the big winners last quarter, Apple and Samsung are both expected to bounce back.

While Apple managed to capture the top spot at the end of 2023, Samsung 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.

iPhone shipments fell from 55.4M in the first quarter of last year to 50.1M in the same quarter this year.

There’s a mix of good news and bad news for Apple in the bigger trend which is emerging post-pandemic. Consumers are willing to pay more for their smartphones, but that’s because they plan to hold onto them for longer. It’s not yet clear how higher average selling prices will balance out against less frequent upgrades.

Photo by Ethan P on Unsplash

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