Samsung has always felt like the largest smartphone manufacturer in the world. There were brief periods here and there where Samsung was outperformed by Huawei or Apple, for example, but over the course of the year the South Korean company was always able to deliver. In 2023 that has changed. Samsung fell to second place. The biggest competitor can be happy.
Samsung hands over smartphone leadership to Apple
It had already been announced in the last few months and now the market research and consulting company IDC has confirmed it with its own figures. Apple was the largest smartphone manufacturer in the world in 2023. The iPhone manufacturer only increased by 3.7 percent compared to 2022, but Samsung lost 13.6 percent of market share in the same period. That’s the way it is Apple succeeded for the first time in recent history Achieving a market share of 20.1 percent and narrowly beating Samsung with a market share of 19.4 percent.
According to IDC, Apple was the largest smartphone manufacturer in the world in 2023. (Image source: IDC)
Xiaomi comes in third place with a market share of 12.5 percent, while Oppo takes fourth place with 8.8 percent. Transsion takes fifth place with 8.1 percent. The Chinese company has previously noticed quite a bit of growth.
Especially in the 4th quarter and the one therein Apple was able to increase its Christmas business significantly:
Apple sold over 80 million iPhones in the fourth quarter of 2023. (Image source: IDC)
In contrast, Samsung lost a massive 10.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023 and only ended up in second place. Xiaomi, Transsion and Vivo, on the other hand, were also able to grow and thus gain market share worldwide.
Here’s how to find out whether your Samsung phone is still working properly:
Is Samsung currently only failing because of Apple?
The IDC experts credit Apple for the great success with the iPhones, but that alone is not responsible for Samsung’s downfall. Instead More and more Android manufacturers are selling competitive smartphones at affordable prices and are making life difficult for Samsung where the company has previously been untouchable with its models. The best example of this is Transsion. Samsung will have to show whether the company can regain its former strength with its current smartphone strategy.