(San Francisco) Apple has overtaken Samsung in smartphone sales in 2023, according to specialist market research firm IDC, which sees “a shift in power at the top of the largest consumer electronics market.”
Posted at 3:56 p.m.
“The last time a company other than Samsung took first place in the smartphone market was in 2010,” the experts emphasize in a press release published on Monday.
According to IDC, the Californian company sold more than 234 million iPhones last year, or 20.1% of the global market.
This is the first time that the company holds the largest share of this market and it is “the only player in the top three to show positive annual growth of 3.7%,” notes Nabila Popal, research director.
However, the Apple brand faced “increasing regulatory challenges and renewed competition from Huawei in China, its largest market,” it adds. “Apple's continued success and resilience is largely due to the growing trend toward premium devices, which now represent more than 20% of the market, aggressive exchange offers on older models and zero-interest financing plans.
Samsung is in second place with more than 226 million devices sold (-13.6%) and 19.4% of the pie.
The South Korean giant will unveil new smartphones with artificial intelligence (AI) on Wednesday in San Jose, the heart of America's Silicon Valley – a very trendy topic but one that Apple rarely discusses at its conferences.
Competition in the smartphone market is “strong,” says Ryan Reith, vice president of IDC's division for that market.
“Apple certainly played a role in Samsung's demise, but the Android space as a whole is diversifying. “Huawei is back and making rapid progress in China, brands like OnePlus, Honor, Google and others are launching very competitive devices in the lower price segment of the high-end,” he analyzes.
The American group stood out in an unfavorable environment: global smartphone sales fell by 3.2% to 1.17 billion units in 2023, the “lowest annual volume in a decade, largely due to macroeconomic challenges,” explains IDC.
The company still expects a recovery in 2024 and year-on-year growth of 8.5% in the fourth quarter of 2023.