According to data from the specialized research company IDC, in 2023 Apple will surpass Samsung in terms of smartphone sales, reports AFP.
“The last time a company other than Samsung held the top spot in the smartphone market was in 2010,” analysts said in a statement released on Monday.
According to IDC, the Californian group sold more than 234 million iPhones last year, accounting for 20.1% of the global market.
This is the first time it has a larger share of this market and is “the only player in the TOP 3 to show positive annual growth” at 3.7%, said Nabila Popal, director of research.
However, the Apple brand has faced “increasing regulatory challenges and renewed competition from Huawei in China, its largest market,” he adds.
“Apple’s continued success and resilience is largely due to its growing focus on high-end devices, which now account for more than 20% of the market, aggressive takeover bids and zero-interest financing schemes.”
Samsung came in second with over 226 million devices sold (down 13.6%) and 19.4% of the market.
On Wednesday in San Jose, the heart of America’s Silicon Valley, the South Korean giant is to unveil new smartphones with artificial intelligence (AI), a topic that is very popular but that Apple rarely addresses at its conferences.
According to Ryan Reith, vice president of market research at IDC, competition in the smartphone market is “fierce.”
“Apple certainly played a role in Samsung’s decline, but the Android space as a whole is diversifying. Huawei is coming back and making rapid strides in China, brands like OnePlus, Honor, Google and others are producing very competitive devices in the lower and higher price ranges,” he analyzed.
The American group stood out in an unfavorable context, with global smartphone sales falling 3.2% in 2023 to 1.17 billion units, “the lowest annual volume in a decade, mainly due to macroeconomic challenges,” IDC explained.
However, the company expects a recovery in 2024, with annual growth of 8.5% already recorded in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Source: Hot News
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