A South Korean company reclaims the top spot as iPhone sales fall to their lowest point since the Covid-19 lockdowns.
Following a sharp decline in sales, South Korean rival Samsung regained the top rank in terms of worldwide market share, forcing Apple to relinquish its position as the world’s largest seller of mobile phones, Up until the end of 2023, when sales of Apple’s iPhone models surpassed Samsung’s, the latter company had been the largest seller of mobile phones for 12 years.
According to research firm IDC, shipments of smartphones worldwide rose by 8% to 289.4 million devices between January and March. Apple’s 17.3% market share has been eroded by slower sales in China, as Samsung secured a 20.8% share, Apple shipped 50.1 million iPhones in the first quarter, according to IDC, less than the 55.4 million it shipped during the same time last year. It was the largest decline in iPhone sales since the global supply chain instability caused by the Covid-19 lockdowns in 2022.
Despite a booming global market, challenges in China were partially blamed for the decline in Apple sales. Apple and Samsung are facing pressure from regional competitors such as Xiaomi and Huawei. Simultaneously, the Chinese government has taken action to prohibit foreign-made devices from being used at work, Sales of the iPhone are Apple’s most significant product, and the company continues to dominate the premium segment of the worldwide smartphone industry. With a market valuation of $2.7 trillion (£2.16 trillion) on Friday, the business outperformed all other smartphone manufacturers and trailed only Microsoft, which has benefited from predictions of an AI boom.
The fierce battle among smartphone manufacturers for market share is highlighted by the back-and-forth movement at the top of the market, though. Xiaomi, the leading smartphone manufacturer in China, came in third place with a 14.1% market share in the first quarter.
Sales of Samsung’s most recent high-end S24 models increased when they were introduced at the beginning of the year. To promote the S24 series, Samsung has placed a significant stake on artificial intelligence (AI) services including video editing software and automated phone translation., At a developer conference in June, investors are hopeful that Apple would reveal more information about its own AI capabilities. It is said that Apple abandoned its project to develop an electric vehicle in order to focus more of its efforts on artificial intelligence.