IDC: Apple is Now the World’s Biggest Smartphone Maker

The market researchers at IDC claim that Apple surpassed Samsung in the calendar year 2023 to become the world’s biggest smartphone maker. Unfortunately, the total smartphone market fell by 3.2 percent in 2023, IDC says.

Note: IDC’s colleagues at Gartner have yet to weigh in on 2023 PC sales.

“While we saw some strong growth from low-end Android players in the second half of 2023, stemming from rapid growth in emerging markets, the biggest winner is clearly Apple,” IDC’s Nabila Popal said. “Not only is Apple the only player in the Top 3 to show positive growth annually, but [it] also bags the number one spot annually for the first time ever. All this despite facing increased regulatory challenges and renewed competition from Huawei in China, its largest market. Apple’s ongoing success and resilience is in large part due to the increasing trend of premium devices, which now represent over 20 percent of the market, fueled by aggressive trade-in offers and interest-free financing plans.”

Apple sold 234.6 million iPhones in 2023, IDC says, up 3.7 percent year-over-year (YOY) and good for 20.1 percent market share. Samsung, the former number one, sold 226.6 million units, down 13.6 percent, and ended 2023 with 19.4 percent marketshare. Three Chinese companies—Xiaomi, OPPO, and Transsion—rounded out the top five.

All hardware makers combined sold a collective 1.17 billion units in 2023, down 3.2 percent YOY from the 1.2 billion IDC claims they sold previously. In the good news department, the smartphone industry returned to growth in Q4, with 326.1 million total units, up 8.5 percent YOY. Apple’s sales were particularly good in that quarter, according to IDC—80.5 million units, up 11.6 percent—while Samsung’s—53 million units, down 10.9 percent—were particularly bad.

Samsung will try to even the score tomorrow when it announces a new generation of smartphones at its Unpacked event.