Market research organization IDC released a research report this morning saying that global smartphone shipments in the first quarter of 2024 (1Q24) increased by 7.8% year-on-year to 289.4 million units. While the smartphone industry is not completely out of the woods yet and the market still faces macroeconomic challenges, the figure marks the third consecutive quarter of smartphone shipment growth and is a strong indicator that the recovery is well underway.
Summary of the top five companies in terms of global smartphone shipments, market share and year-on-year growth rate in this quarter as follows (shipping units are million units):
Ryan Reith, vice president of IDC’s Worldwide Mobile and Consumer Devices Tracking Group, said the smartphone recovery continues to move forward and market optimism among top brands is slowly growing, as expected.
Samsung regained its position as the leading smartphone vendor in the first quarter of this year, after Apple seized the top spot at the end of 2023. IDC expects the two companies to continue to maintain their leadership in the high-end market, but Huawei’s recovery in the Chinese market, as well as the significant growth of Xiaomi, Transsion, OPPO/OnePlus and vivo, may make Samsung and Apple start to look for expansion and Diverse fields. “As the economy recovers, we are likely to see the top companies gaining share while smaller brands struggle to position themselves.”
IDC analyst Nabila Popal said the smartphone market is emerging from the turmoil of the past two years and has become stronger and more volatile. “First, we can continue to see value and average selling price growth as consumers choose more expensive devices and know they will last longer. Second, the strength of the top five companies is also changing. As market participants This change is likely to persist as the economy adjusts its strategy.”
Xiaomi is making a strong comeback from its sharp decline over the past two years, and Transsion has become a stable member of the top 5 through its aggressive development in international markets, the analyst said. In contrast, while the top two companies both experienced negative growth in the first quarter, Samsung’s overall situation appears to be stronger than in recent quarters.
