It looks like 2024 has been a good year for Samsung so far

Samsung has had a successful Q1 2024. The Galaxy S24 series has sold well globally, helping boost its earnings. The company also saw strong demand for its budget models in price-sensitive markets. The demand for Galaxy devices in Q1 2024 was so high that the Korean firm manufactured more units than originally planned. Samsung exceeded its production goals by 22%.

Samsung exceeded its internal production goals for Galaxy devices

According to the Korean publication The Elec, Samsung manufactured 65.4 million Galaxy smartphones and tablets in Q1 2024. That is 22% more units than the initial target of 53 million. The figures do not include Galaxy devices manufactured by its third-party contractor, Wingtech. This indicates stronger demand than anticipated at the start of the year. Galaxy AI is driving the sale of the Galaxy S24 series globally, while low-cost models are also selling well.

Earlier reports said that Samsung has raised its Galaxy S24 sales target for the first quarter of 2024 following a strong early demand. It originally aimed to sell 12 million units of the new flagships in the first three months of the year. However, after record-breaking pre-orders in several global markets, it raised the target to 13 million units. The combined sales of the Galaxy S24, Galaxy S24+, and Galaxy S24 Ultra are about 8% higher than the Galaxy S23 series.

That said, a 22% increase in the production volume may not only be because of higher demand. Samsung may have decided to stock up the inventory for the next few months and clear its manufacturing lines for the next batch of products. The company is preparing to launch new foldables, smartwatches, and many other devices over the next few months. It may launch three foldables and three watches this year, one more than last year.

Samsung reportedly aims to sell around 253 million Galaxy smartphones in 2024. 51 million of those are expected to be flagship models, including the Galaxy S24 series and the new foldables (previous-gen models are also counted in the total figure). It is an ambitious figure, but the Korean behemoth may be on track.

The company recently updated the Galaxy S23 series and 2023 foldables to One UI 6.1, bringing the new AI features to them. Its 2022 flagships will also get the update, so smartphone buyers may be tempted to pick older Galaxy flagships at a discount. Samsung’s commitment to four major Android OS updates and five years of security patches ensures long support for the devices. The Galaxy S24 series will get updates for seven years.