The Korean manufacturer Samsung pushed Apple out of the top spot in the smartphone market again in the last quarter. Transsion from China made a particularly big leap forward.
According to calculations by the analysis firm IDC, Samsung took back the top spot in the smartphone market from Apple in the last quarter. Almost 21 percent of the devices sold worldwide came from the South Korean company. Apple’s iPhone had a 17.3 percent market share.
The strongest boost was recorded by the Chinese manufacturer Transsion, which is primarily active in Africa. With a sales increase of around 85 percent, it sold around one in ten smartphones worldwide and jumped to fourth place.
Apple’s sales fall by almost 10 percent
It is not unusual for Samsung to be behind Apple in the Christmas quarter and then take back first place in the first quarter of the new year. But in 2023, Apple was able to overtake the long-time market leader for the first time in an entire calendar year. In recent months, Samsung has brought its new top model Galaxy S24 onto the market in its usual annual rhythm. According to IDC figures, sales fell by 0.7 percent year-on-year to 60.1 million devices.
Apple sold 50.1 million iPhones, which was 9.6 percent fewer phones. One reason could be that sales in the same quarter last year were boosted by pent-up demand from the 2022 Christmas season. There were delivery delays for the more powerful Pro models of the iPhone 14 due to Corona lockdowns in production in China. The iPhone is by far Apple’s most important product.
Smartphone market is growing again
Overall, after a long period of weakness, the smartphone market grew again by 7.8 percent to 289.4 million devices, as IDC calculated. The analysis company is one of the market research companies that regularly estimate sales of electronics. There is no more information about this from the manufacturers themselves.
IDC sees the Chinese provider Xiaomi in third place, with sales increasing by a good third to around 14 percent market share. Fifth place is occupied by the Chinese brand Oppo, which sold 8.5 percent fewer smartphones and achieved a market share of 8.5 percent.