Analysts: fewer smartphones delivered in 2023, Apple market leader for the first time

IDC and Canalys report that approximately 1.1 billion smartphones will be shipped worldwide in 2023. According to IDC, this is 3.2 percent less than in 2022. Canalys keeps it at 4 percent. Apple shipped approximately 234 million iPhones last year and is the market leader for the first time.

According to analysts at IDC In the past ten years, fewer smartphones have ever been delivered worldwide than in 2023. The analyst firm did see that approximately 8 percent more smartphones were again delivered in the fourth quarter of last year than in the same period in 2022. Canalys confirms this and suspects that the global market will recover in the coming year.

Apple shipped the most smartphones last year: about 234.6 million. The American company thus had a 20.1 percent market share. In 2022, Apple still had a market share of 18.8 percent. According to IDC, Samsung is in second place with 226.6 million smartphones shipped. The South Korean company accounted for 19.4 percent market share in 2023. In 2022, this was still approximately 21.7 percent, according to IDC. Apple has been the market leader for a short period before, often around the release of new iPhones, but never for a full year.

Xiaomi had a market share of 12.5 percent in 2023 with 145.9 million smartphones, completing the top three according to IDC. In 2022, Xiaomi achieved a market share of 12.7 percent. Fourth place is occupied by OPPO. The Chinese smartphone manufacturer managed to deliver approximately 103.1 million phones in 2023, achieving a market share of 8.8 percent, while this was still 9.5 percent in 2022. Transsion, a Chinese holding company that sells budget phones from subsidiary brands Itel, Tecno Mobile and Infinix, managed to deliver approximately 94.9 million smartphones in 2024. That was good for a market share of 8.1 percent. In 2022, Transsion will reportedly achieve a market share of 6 percent.