Samsung beat Nokia to become the world’s biggest smartphone maker in 2010. After holding the top position for 13 long years, it has now lost the top spot to Apple. According to the latest report from IDC, Apple has dethroned Samsung to become the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer in 2023. This was the first time when Apple secured the top spot for a full year.
The year 2023 saw a 3.2% Year-over-Year (YoY) decline in smartphone shipments and reached to a decade-low of 1.17 billion units. Apple still managed to ship 234.6 million iPhones in 2023. It had a 20.1% market share, up from 18.8% in 2022. Samsung is in second place with a 19.4% market share and 226.6 million shipments.
Other top Android players such as Xiaomi and Oppo also saw declines in their yearly smartphone shipments. These companies saw a 4.7 percent and 9.9 percent decline in growth respectively.
Transsion Holdings, a Chinese smartphone maker, that owns several brands including Itel, Tecno, and Infinix had a good year in 2023. It managed to secure 5th spot with 30.8 percent growth and 8.1 percent market share. It shipped 94.9 million smartphones as compared to 72.6 million in 2022.
The smartphone market saw a sign of. recovery in Q4 2023 when the shipment grew by 8.5% to 326.1 million units. Analysts are now expecting growth in smartphone shipments due to growing consumer interest in foldable phones and AI-powered features.
