Apple Overtakes Samsung In Global Smartphone Market

(RTTNews) - Tech giant Apple Inc. (AAPL) has dethroned its South Korean counterpart Samsung Electronics Co. to become the world's top smartphone seller.

Apple's iPhones became the best-selling smartphone series in 2023, helping the Cupertino, California-based company beat Samsung to the top spot for the first time. This ends Samsung's 12-year reign as the world's top smartphone seller. The last time Samsung was at the No. 2 position was in 2010 when Finnish company Nokia topped the list.

The iPhones took the top spot in 2023 with 234.6 million units sold, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) figures, overtaking Samsung's 226.6 million units.

Meanwhile, Samsung came ahead of Chinese device makers like Xiaomi Corp., Oppo, and Transsion.

Apple's market share increased to 20.1% in 2023 from 18.8% in 2022, while Samsung's dropped to 19.4% from 21.7%.

According to IDC, the global smartphone market overall remains challenged, but momentum is moving quickly toward recovery.

According to preliminary data from IDC, global smartphone shipments declined 3.2% year over year to 1.17 billion units in 2023. This marks the lowest full-year volume in a decade, driven largely by macroeconomic challenges and elevated inventory early in the year.

"While we saw some strong growth from low-end Android players like Transsion and Xiaomi in the second half of 2023, stemming from rapid growth in emerging markets, the biggest winner is clearly Apple," said Nabila Popal, research director with IDC's Worldwide Tracker team.

"Not only is Apple the only player in the Top 3 to show positive growth annually, but also bags the number 1 spot annually for the first time ever. All this despite facing increased regulatory challenges and renewed competition from Huawei in China, its largest market. Apple's ongoing success and resilience is in large part due to the increasing trend of premium devices, which now represent over 20% of the market, fueled by aggressive trade-in offers and interest-free financing plans," Popal added.

Meanwhile, according to IDC's Ryan Reith, Samsung's drop in rank was also affected by the Android market being diversified, with players like Huawei, OnePlus, Honor and Google offering competitive devices at much lower price ranges.