According to the latest smartphone sales compilation by IDC, Apple saw nearly a 10% decline in Q1 2024.
iPhone sales saw 9.6% decline, dropping to 50.1 million units from the previous year’s 55.4 million. This downturn comes amid a global increase in smartphone shipments, highlighting Apple’s challenges in maintaining its market position.
Samsung saw 60.5 million smartphone shipments and took 22.5% marketshare, versus Apple’s 20.7%. Samsung saw a 0.7% decline year-over-year.
Xiaomi saw sales surge 33.8% YoY, while Shenzhen-based Transsion saw sales increase by 85%.
Despite the overall industry’s recovery, which saw a 7.8% rise in shipments amounting to 289.4 million units, Apple’s market share dipped to 17.3% from 20.7% year over year.
“As expected, smartphone recovery continues to move forward with market optimism slowly building among the top brands,” said Ryan Reith, group vice president with IDC’s Worldwide Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers, in a statement on Monday.
“While Apple managed to capture the top spot at the end of 2023, Samsung successfully reasserted itself as the leading smartphone provider in the first quarter. While IDC expects these two companies to maintain their hold on the high end of the market, the resurgence of Huawei in China, as well as notable gains from Xiaomi, Transsion, OPPO/OnePlus, and vivo will likely have both OEMs looking for areas to expand and diversify. As the recovery progresses, we’re likely to see the top companies gain share as the smaller brands struggle for positioning,” added Reith.
Chinese smartphone makers saw a rise to challenge the iPhone and it’s clear Apple needs to start doing more to make the iPhone great again.
“The smartphone market is emerging from the turbulence of the last two years both stronger and changed,” said Nabila Popal, research director with IDC’s Worldwide Tracker team, in a statement. “Firstly, we continue to see growth in value and average selling prices (ASPs) as consumers opt for more expensive devices knowing they will hold onto their devices longer. Secondly, there is a shift in power among the Top 5 companies, which will likely continue as market players adjust their strategies in a post-recovery world. Xiaomi is coming back strong from the large declines experienced over the past two years and Transsion is becoming a stable presence in the Top 5 with aggressive growth in international markets. In contrast, while the Top 2 players both saw negative growth in the first quarter, it seems Samsung is in a stronger position overall than they were in recent quarters.”
Apple’s iPhone updates haven’t changed much over the past few years and updates haven’t been super exciting. Let’s hope Apple can make some worthy upgrades for the iPhone 16 series this fall. It doesn’t help when Apple’s iPhone pricing remains premium as well.
