Samsung has lost its status as the leader of the global smartphone market, losing its position to Apple.
In this case, there is a confirmation of the belief that someone who is at the top of success should be prepared for the fact that at some point they will have to leave this place, warmed by the rays of the sun of prosperity. Samsung became the smartphone market leader in 2010. At the end of 2023, the history of this company as the dominant brand in the mentioned commercial space gradually began to fade into the past.
This week, the IDC research group published an annual report on the mobile phone market, according to which Apple is now the leader in this area. This is to some extent a landmark event since the long-term leader has been replaced. Currently, Tim Cook’s company has a record-high share in the smartphone market. Special attention should be paid to the fact that Apple has become the leader in the sphere of mobile phone sales for the first time.
Last year, the volume of iPhone shipments to the global smartphone market amounted to 235 million devices. At the same time, Samsung’s equivalent figure is 226.6 million mobile phones.
The changes in the balance of power in the smartphone market are due to some extent to the fact that the volume of shipments of the corresponding devices last year reached the lowest level in the last decade. The reasons for this negative trend were circumstances such as problems in the macroeconomic environment and excess inventory. At the same time, IDC analysts argue that the processes in the smartphone market recorded at the end of 2023 indicate that there is a high probability that in the current year in this commercial space, there will be a state of affairs that can be described as a revival.
Nabila Popal, director of research at the IDC Worldwide Tracker team, says that there are now solid grounds to call Apple a winner. According to the expert, the iPhone is only one of the three most popular smartphones on the global market, which demonstrated the dynamic of the growth in consumer demand compared to the previous year. Nabila Popal noted that Apple has managed to achieve a leadership position despite regulatory problems and increased competition from Huawei in China. The expert separately stated that the mentioned Asian country is one of the most important markets for Tim Cook’s company.
The steady success and sustainability of Apple, according to IDC, is largely due to the trend towards an increase in the manufacturing of devices belonging to the premium product category. Currently, the mentioned group’s goods account for more than 20% of the smartphone market. The demand for premium products is supported by aggressive trade-in offers and interest-free financing plans.
For Apple, leadership in the smartphone market is good news in a series of various problems and negative forecasts about the company’s future. For example, in January, Jefferies analysts reported a double-digit decline in iPhone sales in China. Experts also predict that this negative trend for Apple in the Asian market will continue throughout 2024. At the same time, Huawei’s share in the list of preferences of Chinese smartphone buyers shows a steady increase.
Also in January, Barclays analysts said that weak demand for the iPhone would have large-scale consequences for Apple in the form of a decrease in the share price and a decline in the company’s market value by more than $100 billion.
At the same time, the position of Tim Cook’s company against the background of unfavorable prospects for the near future may be improved by the sphere of financial services. The results of industry research indicate that it is most convenient for consumers to apply Apple and Google devices to make biometric payments.
In the United States, almost 50% of citizens who make purchases on virtual platforms use certain biometric authentication methods. Also, about 15% of solvent residents of the US are not yet involved in applying the mentioned commercial action mechanisms but intend to join consumers of such solutions. The most popular biometric methods are facial recognition and fingerprint scanning. More than 25% of US online shoppers use the specified methods to make transactions using smartphones.
