Samsung Dethrones Apple In Global Smartphone Shipments

Samsung has dethroned Apple to regain its top spot in the global smartphone market in Q1 2024. The South Korean firm defeated Apple just by one quarter after it was pushed down to the second position, all thanks to impressive sales of the Galaxy S24 series, which was launched in January earlier in 2024.

In the fourth quarter of 2023, Apple became the world’s biggest smartphone company in terms of unit sales. Samsung was beaten by Apple in second place during that quarter. However, Samsung has returned strongly in the first quarter of 2024, riding the wave of the successful Galaxy S24. 

According to market research firm IDC, it sold 60.1 million smartphones during Q1 of 2024. That’s slightly lower than Samsung’s 60.5 million sales from last year, marking a 0.7% drop compared to Q1 2023 figures. Apple sold 50.1 million iPhones in Q1 2024, a 9.6% drop in sales when compared to Q1 2023. It was the second-biggest smartphone brand in Q1 of 2024. Previous reports suggest, that most of its sales drop might have come from China.

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289 Million Smartphones Shipped In Q4 2023

Xiaomi has also shown a strong comeback, ranking third in the global smartphone market with sales of more than 40.8 million smartphones during Q1 2024. That’s a huge improvement of 33.8% compared to Q1 2023. However, what’s impressive is Transsion’s huge 84.9% sales jump to 28.5 million units during the same period. OPPO’s sales declined last quarter by 8.5% and it sold 25.2 million smartphones globally.

Overall, 289.4 million smartphones were shipped globally in the first quarter of 2024. That is a 7.8% rise in shipments compared to the muted sales figures from 2023’s first quarter. Smartphone sales are growing globally, and the recovery seems to be happening compared to disastrous market conditions from last year.

Huawei has reportedly witnessed a great comeback in China’s domestic market. However, the company won’t be in the top five anytime soon due to the US sanctions on the firm.

Nabila Popal, Research Director of IDC's Worldwide Tracker team, said, “In contrast, while the Top 2 players (Samsung and Apple) both saw negative growth in the first quarter, it seems Samsung is in a stronger position overall than they were in recent quarters.”

Also Read: Samsung Galaxy S25 To Pack More Powerful 3nm Exynos Chip

Samsung’s New Strategy To Take On Apple

While next-gen VR devices such as the Samsung XR headset are yet to see the light of day, Qualcomm is said to be preparing for the next-gen models, including the Meta Quest Pro 2 and Meta Quest 4.

Users will likely witness some XR2+ Gen 2-powered models coming out later this year. However, some of the much-anticipated devices like Samsung’s XR headset, Sony’s headset, and an HTC device might be delayed if a Gen 3 is in the offing so they can use the latest tech.