What you need to know
- According to a report by Counterpoint Research, the global smartphone market grew by six percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2024.
- Apple had an interesting quarter, posting a 13% year-over-year decline in the first quarter of 2024, despite the company recording its highest average selling price (ASP) ever.
- Samsung was the clear winner this quarter, reclaiming its place as the world’s leading smartphone vendor.
The global smartphone market appears to be recovering, with Android phones performing particularly well in the first quarter of 2024, according to a report from Counterpoint Research.
Overall, the market grew by six percent year-on-year, although Apple shipped significantly fewer iPhones in the last quarter than in the first quarter of 2023. This is partly due to the success of Samsung Galaxy phones. A strong launch of the company’s Galaxy A series smartphones appears to have pushed Samsung above Apple as the global leader in shipments.
Samsung is typically the top smartphone maker based on total shipments, but lost that title to Apple in the fourth quarter of 2023. However, with Apple seeing a 13% year-over-year decline in shipments in the first quarter of 2024, Samsung was able to reclaim the top position. Samsung devices accounted for 20% of all smartphones shipped last quarter, while iPhones’ share fell to 17%.
As in previous quarters, the market for premium smartphones continues to grow. According to Counterpoint, the market segment, including phones priced above $800, grew the fastest in the first quarter of 2024. Apple benefited greatly from this trend last quarter, boasting the highest average selling price (ASP) of any OEM at $900. This is likely due to buyers preferring the higher-priced iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max over the base models.
Additionally, Apple maintained its position as the smartphone sales leader with a 43% market share. Still, that number is down 11% year-over-year, and there are a few reasons for that.
“Tough competition in China, record-breaking upgrades in the U.S. and a difficult comparison to last year due to the postponement of iPhone 14 Pro supply to the first quarter of 2023 weighed on iPhone performance,” said Jeff Fieldhack, head of research at Counterpoint. “An improved product mix with 15 Pro devices that perform better than their predecessors and an increasing presence in emerging markets have helped Apple arrest some of the declines.”
The overall growth was driven in part by the success of select brands in regions outside of North America, including TECNO, Xiaomi, Honor and Huawei. Of the top five OEMs, Xiaomi grew the most last quarter, increasing shipments by 34% year-over-year.
Looking ahead, Counterpoint analysts expect the premium smartphone market to continue to grow. This is due to the expected release of new phones with generative AI functionality. Counterpoint predicts that 11% of smartphones shipped this year will feature generative AI. If Apple eventually builds Gen AI features into the next iPhone series, joining Google and Samsung, this will likely be the case.