In 2023, Apple Inc. overthrew Samsung Electronics to become the firm with the most sales of smartphones for the first time since 2010. Apple, which came in first place on the list following the iPhone, controlled about 235 million shipments last year, or a fifth of the worldwide market.
Samsung emerged in second place, ahead of Chinese smartphone manufacturers like Xiaomi Corp., whose shipments fell by double digits to 226.6 million. This is the case even if demand for iPhones has declined in several nations as a result of the availability of less expensive competitors.
Although Iphone has always led the Christmas quarter, its year-long push ahead of Samsung is exceptional and indicates that Apple is surviving a downturn in the industry more skillfully than its competitors.
Due to the increasing popularity of Huawei Technologies Co. in China, Apple’s largest market globally, the iPhone 15 received a lackluster reaction there. Nonetheless, in 2023, Iphone was able to grow its customer base by making bold offers in response to the growing market for high-end devices.
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Nabila Popal, director of IDC’s research organization, stated “While we saw some substantial growth from low-end Android players like Transsion Technologies and Mi in the second half of 2023, because of rapid growth in markets that are developing, the biggest winner is clearly Apple.”
Popal went on, “All of this is in spite of the fact that it is dealing with more regulatory obstacles and fresh competition from Huawei in China, its biggest market. The growing popularity of premium devices, which currently account for more than 20% of the market, has contributed significantly continued success and resiliency.
How Apple beat Samsung
Despite experiencing a downturn in sales in China, IDC reports that Apple’s sales increased following a shift in the smartphone pricing chain, which was partially fueled by alluring trade-in incentives and interest-free financing.
According to the research organization, Apple is the only company in the top three to have had a 3.7 percent global rise. The business is still vulnerable to the broader drop in demand, though.
Since Samsung’s premium smartphone prices have been rising exponentially over the previous two years, despite Apple’s efforts to keep prices stable, the company has been able to overtake Samsung in the race to the top.
However, the iPhone manufacturer is seeing a downturn in China as a result of fierce competition from regional tech giant Huawei, which recaptured some of the market share it had lost following US sanctions by launching the Mate 60 Pro smartphone, which is powered by a cutting-edge chipset produced in China.
