Key Points
- The iPhone beat out Samsung Galaxy to become the best-selling smartphone series globally in 2023.
- Apple’s 2023 shipments stand at 234 million vs 226 million for Samsung.
- Xiaomi, Oppo and Transsion secured spots in the top five.
Apple’s iPhone dethroned Samsung to become the best-selling smartphone series in 2023. This is the first time South Korea’s largest company has lost the top spot since 2010.
Apple toppled Samsung to ship the most smartphones in a year, according to data from International Data Corp’s (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. Another research agency, Canalys, also ranked Apple taking its top spot for all of 2023.
“The last time a company not named Samsung was at the top of the smartphone market was in 2010, and for 2023, it is now Apple. A shifting of power at the top of the largest consumer electronics market was driven by Apple’s all-time high market share and a first time at the top,” IDC’s report reads. IDC also said that the data is preliminary and subject to change.
“Not only is Apple the only player in the Top 3 to show positive growth annually, but it also bags the number 1 spot annually for the first time. All this despite facing increased regulatory challenges and renewed competition from Huawei in China, its largest market,” said Nabila Popal, research director with IDC’s Worldwide Tracker team. “Apple’s ongoing success and resilience is largely 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.
While the two tech giants, Apple and Samsung, continue to dominate the market, Chinese Android players Xiaomi and Transsion also reported strong growth in the second half of 2023.
IDC placed Apple’s total mobile shipments at 234.6 million compared to 226.6 million for Samsung. Chinese smartphone brands, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Transsion, are also in the top five with 145.9, 103.1, and 94.9 million smartphones shipped, respectively.
Top 5 smartphone companies in 2023
| Top 5 Companies (Worldwide Smartphone Shipments, Market Share, and Year-Over-Year Growth in 2023) (Preliminary results, shipments in millions of units) | |||||
| Company | 2023 Shipments | 2023 Market Share | 2022 Shipments | 2022 Market Share | 2023/2022 Growth |
| 1. Apple | 234.6 | 20.1% | 226.3 | 18.8% | 3.7% |
| 2. Samsung | 226.6 | 19.4% | 262.2 | 21.7% | -13.6% |
| 3. Xiaomi | 145.9 | 12.5% | 153.2 | 12.7% | -4.7% |
| 4. Oppo | 103.1 | 8.8% | 114.4 | 9.5% | -9.9% |
| 5. Transsion | 94.9 | 8.1% | 72.6 | 6.0% | 30.8% |
| Others | 361.8 | 31.0% | 377.2 | 31.3% | -4.1% |
| TOTAL | 1,166.9 | 100.0% | 1,205.9 | 100.0% | -3.2% |
| Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, January 15, 2024 | |||||
AI set to transform smartphone market
Ryan Reith, group VP with IDC’s Worldwide Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers, believes that the overall shift in the smartphone market highlights the intensity of competition within the smartphone market.
“Apple certainly played a part in Samsung’s drop in rank, but the overall Android space is diversifying within itself. Huawei is back and making inroads quickly within China, Brands like OnePlus, Honor, Google, and others are launching very competitive devices in the lower price range of the high end,” he said.
The smartphone space is headed towards a very interesting time, according to Ryan, as the foldable phones and the AI capabilities on the smartphone are gaining traction.
The South Korean tech group Samsung Electronics unveiled its new Galaxy S24 smartphone series packed with new AI-powered features. The devices feature the latest AI-capable Snapdragon processor from US chipmaker Qualcomm and its own Galaxy AI software and services.
The Galaxy AI boasts features such as allowing users to translate conversations in real-time across 13 languages during phone calls, text conversations, and in-person conversations. The “Circle to Search” function allows users to Google any item that appears on their screen in an image or a video simply by circling or tapping it. The Transcript Assist feature uses AI to transcribe, summarize, and translate recordings, while Note Assist helps create AI-generated summaries of notes.
