Apple loses its crown to Samsung as top smartphone maker, shipments tank in Q1 2024

Apple experienced a decline of approximately 10 per cent in smartphone shipments during the first quarter of 2024, according to data from research firm IDC, which was released on Sunday.

The reason for this fall in its shipment can be attributed to a lot of things, but primarily, it is because of a historic rise in demand for Android smartphones, and the strong competition that they are posing now, thanks to several manufacturers integrating AI services with their devices.

Surprisingly, global smartphone shipments saw a 7.8 per cent increase to 289.4 million units during the period of January to March, in which Samsung emerged as the leading smartphone maker. The South Korean tech giant captured a market share of 20.8 per cent while surpassing Apple.

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Apple also faces some tough challenges in the Chinese market, where smartphone shipments decreased by 2.1 per cent in the final quarter of 2023 compared to the previous year.

This shift follows Apple’s strong performance in the previous December quarter when it briefly held the title of the world’s No.1 phone maker before slipping to the second spot with a 17.3 per cent market share. This was mainly because of China’s response to Apple’s launch of the iPhone 15 series, which went up against devices from Chinese brands like Huawei.

Following Samsung, we have Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi which secured the third position with a market share of 14.1 per cent in the first quarter. Meanwhile, Samsung, put in a strong position by the launch of its latest flagship device, the Galaxy S24 series, has managed to ship over 60 million phones during this period.

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The Galaxy S24 series saw an 8 per cent increase in global sales compared to the previous year’s Galaxy S23 series during the initial three weeks of availability, according to data provided by Counterpoint.

In contrast, Apple’s iPhone shipments dipped to 50.1 million units in the first quarter, down from 55.4 million units in the same period last year.

This decline reflects restrictions imposed by some Chinese companies and government agencies on the use of Apple devices, echoing similar measures taken by the U.S. government against Chinese apps on security grounds.

Despite their sliding shipments and some serious competition rival smartphone makers, Apple still holds a considerable chunk of the market. With the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple’s annual developer’s conference scheduled for June, the tech giant will have ample opportunities to showcase their insights into software updates for iPhones, iPads, and other Apple devices, and how they plan to integrate AI into their devices. This should buoy Investor morale as AI has been an area where Apple is yet to provide significant details. However, if leaks and rumours are anything to go by, Apple will have plenty of surprises for everyone.

(With inputs from agencies)