iPhone sales decline big in the first quarter of 2024

iPhone is seeing a big decline in shipments for the first quarter of 2024 as competitors raise their game to sell more devices under the Android camp.

Market researcher IDC reports that Apple shipped more than 50 million devices and achieved 17.3 percent of the market share through the first three months of this year.

The Cupertino-based tech company sold 55.4 million iPhones in the first quarter of 2023 with a 20.7 percent market share. The company has now declined 9.6 percent year over year (YoY). This is a major decline in yearly growth as we’re still months away from the new iPhone release.

In Q4 2023, Apple dethroned Samsung from the first spot and claimed 11.6 percent annual growth with more than 80 million shipments. At that time, Apple recorded a 24.7 percent market share compared to a 24 percent market share during the same quarter in 2022.

However, Samsung has returned to the top with 20.8 percent market share and more than 60 million smartphone sales. Yet, the South Korean firm saw a slight YoY decline of 0.7 percent.

“While Apple managed to capture the top spot at the end of 2023, Samsung successfully reasserted itself as the leading smartphone provider in the first quarter,” says Ryan Reith, Group Vice President with IDC’s Worldwide Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers.

Top Winners:

The researcher shared several reasons for this new change in the smartphone sales spectrum. Among these, consumer demand and optimized strategies play a big role in gaining sales for Apple and Samsung’s competitors.

Speaking of which, Xiaomi and Transsion are the two shining stars of the first quarter. These two have marked a big performance jump with more than 40 and 25 million units shipment in the first quarter.

These firms achieved 33.8 percent and 84.9 percent YoY growth rates through the past quarter. Their market share accounts for 14.1 percent (from 11.4 percent) and 9.9 percent (from 5.7 percent) compared to the first quarter of 2023.

Others:

Another Chinese phone maker Oppo maintained its foot in the top 5 smartphone market list with 25.2 million units sold in the first quarter. However, it had an 8.5 percent decline.

Smartphone shipment data for the first quarter of 2024 (Source: IDC)

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