The hierarchy of the best-selling global smartphone manufacturers has never been set in stone. Over time, it has certainly shifted around, with companies like Samsung, Huawei, and Apple having sat in the top spot at some point or another. In fact, it was just last year, in 2023, that Apple had that top spot for the first time, having claimed it from Samsung the previous year.
Well, it seems that Samsung took that personally, and with the release of the Galaxy S24 series, the Korean company has been able to wrestle back the top spot, only five months after Apple took it from them.
Samsung Is Now The Top Global Smartphone Manufacturer, Yet Again
Last year, for the first time in its history, Apple managed to become the top smartphone manufacturer worldwide for the entire year, with a massive cut of the pie: 20% of all smartphone shipments in the year. Samsung was right on the company’s tail, with a similar 20% cut, but they only sold 225.5 million phones against 229.1 million from the Cupertino giant (Fun fact: Xiaomi was third, with 13%).
With such a close margin, however, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that Apple’s dominance did not last for long. Based on sales figures for the early parts of 2024, Samsung’s strong sales with the Galaxy S24 family have knocked Apple off its throne, with a 20% vs 18% market share match-up.
However, this is following the release of one of Samsung’s major series for the year and Apple’s crown was for the entirety of 2023. It’ll be best to see how the two companies compare once the iPhone 16 series is launched much later in the year, as that’s when the American company is bound to see a huge boost in their sales for the year. They led in Q4 2023 too, and may likely repeat the feat in Q4 2024, but whether this will do enough for them to grab the #1 spot for the entire year remains to be seen.
My Opinion? By The End Of 2024, Samsung Will Be Back On Top As #1
The Galaxy S24 series has done great for the Korean company, with better sales than the S23 series did in the same period (8% more to be exact). Of course, Samsung makes a lot of money with their budget and mid-tier smartphones as well. However, there’s a particular reason why I think it will be particularly light work for Samsung to reclaim its crown by the end of the year.
Samsung’s most notable releases for the latter half of the year are the Z devices; the company’s foldables. They’ve always been relatively inaccessible because of high prices, but this year, the company looks set to release FE models for both the Z Flip 6 and the Z Fold 6. It’s even rumored that the Z Fold 6 FE will cost less than $1,000, which will make it a very attractive entry point to foldables.
I think the Z devices as a whole will sell a lot better than they ever have thanks to having the regularly-priced options (with the Z Fold 6 bound for a redesign, which always attracts sales) as well as relatively cheaper options.
