Apple’s leadership in the global smartphone market turned out to be a short-term period of maximum success, which did not become the beginning of a new era in the history of the California, Cupertino-based technology giant.
At the end of 2023, the mentioned company symbolically and practically conquered a new peak. The technology giant from Cupertino has become the leader of the global smartphone market in terms of the number of devices sold. However, the time of Apple’s leadership turned out to be something like a flash, after which the balance of power returned to the framework of the previous configuration of the state of affairs envisions Samsung as the main seller of mobile phones in the world. The relevant data is contained in the IDC report for the first quarter of the current year. This information was published at the end of last week.
In the first quarter of 2024, the total global smartphone shipments amounted to 289.4 million devices. This figure is 7.8% higher than the result recorded for the same period last year. Information on smartphone shipments for the first quarter of 2024 indicates that the market for these devices is currently on a recovery trajectory after the downturn observed over the past two years. At the same time, IDC experts warn that there is still a risk of turbulence in the mentioned commercial space.
Nabila Popal, director of research at the IDC Worldwide Tracker team, says that the global smartphone market is leaving the territory of the negative dynamic of the last two years, becoming stronger and facing changes in the internal environment. The expert noted that currently there is still an increase in the value and average selling prices. According to her, the mentioned tendency is the result of consumers choosing favor of more expensive smartphones, explaining these decisions by the fact that devices of the corresponding price categories are in use longer.
Nabila Popal also stated that there is currently a shift in power in the companies that are the leaders of the specified market. In her opinion, in the foreseeable future, the relevant process will continue and will be directly related to how market players will adjust their strategies against the background of the global economic recovery.
Currently, the most popular smartphone manufacturers in the world are Samsung, Apple, Xiaomi, Transsion, and OPPO. The IDC report notes that the market share of Xiaomi and Transsion increased year-on-year in the first quarter of 2024. At the same time, Samsung and Apple showed a negative dynamic in a similar indicator. The market share of the Cupertino-based technology giant shrank by 9.6%. Samsung’s similar indicator decreased by 0.7%.
By the end of 2023, Apple, as above mentioned, managed to become the leader of the global smartphone market. This result of the company became a landmark and, in a sense, historical, since Samsung was ousted from the throne of the main global mobile phone manufacturer for the first time in 13 years. However, in the shortest possible time, the situation returned to the limits of the previous hierarchy in terms of sales.
In the first quarter of 2024, 50.1 million Apple devices were sold on the global smartphone market. The Cupertino-based technology giant’s mobile phone sales totaled 55.4 million units in the same period last year.
The volume of Samsung smartphone global shipments for the first quarter of 2024 amounted to 60.1 billion devices. During the first three months of last year, 60.5 billion cell phones were sold worldwide.
To a large extent, the deterioration in Apple’s results is due to the problems that the company is currently facing in China, one of its main markets. In February, the media reported that resellers in the mentioned Asian country are offering big discounts to buyers of the iPhone 15. The mentioned device was presented in September last year. Sales of Apple’s new product in China have been disappointing. In this case, the result was impacted by factors such as the difficult economic situation in the Asian country, in which consumers are reconsidering their expenses in the direction of reduction, and increased competition from the local smartphone manufacturer Huawei, which last year presented a mobile phone with a 7-nanometer Kirin processor.
IDC analyst Will Wong, during a conversation with media representatives last month, said that Apple is catching up with the deflation trend in China, intending to stimulate demand for the iPhone. The expert also said that in the Asian country, the Cupertino-based technology giant is facing fierce competition from smartphone manufacturers based on the Android operating system. According to Will Wong, iPhone sales in China decreased by about 10% year-on-year in January 2024. Demand for similar Huawei products over the same period showed growth in the triple digits.
As we have reported earlier, Samsung Forecasts Jump in Profit.
