The “rise” of Samsung is the norm
In a 290-million Q1 market, Samsung now commands 20.8% market share, according to IDC, taking the top spot from Apple, while riding on the wings of the Galaxy AI marketing it embarked on with the S24 series launch.
Global phone shipments
Thus, there isn’t some sort of huge rebound and success story around the Galaxy S24 as the quarter-on-quarter numbers would suggest, even though Samsung seems a bit more resilient than Apple at the moment. According to Nabila Popal, research director at IDC:
The smartphone market is emerging from the turbulence of the last two years both stronger and changed. Firstly, we continue to see growth in value and average selling prices (ASPs) as consumers opt for more expensive devices, knowing they will hold onto their devices longer. Secondly, there is a shift in power among the Top 5 companies, which will likely continue as market players adjust their strategies in a post-recovery world. Xiaomi is coming back strong from the large declines experienced over the past two years, and Transsion is becoming a stable presence in the Top 5 with aggressive growth in international markets. In contrast, while the Top 2 players both saw negative growth in the first quarter, it seems Samsung is in a stronger position overall than they were in recent quarters.
Apple’s “slump” is hardly an exception
This was explained with the rise of the Chinese juggernauts that continued unabated. There is more to that story, though, as the Chinese government and companies started restricting the use of Apple gear, while patriotic fervor boosted sales of local brands like Huawei with its homebrew Kirin chipset.
The Q4 rise in Apple sales and the subsequent “slump” where Samsung takes over is historically the norm, rather than the exception that is made out to be. As can be seen from this handy graphic by Canalys, Apple rides on the wings of a new iPhone announcement each last quarter of the year.
Historical Apple vs Samsung market share trends
Samsung, which in recent years switched to Q1 releases of its flagship phone series, gets a huge sales boost three months after Apple for rather self-evident reasons, and climbs back on top.
In short, Apple always bounces in Q4, and Samsung in Q1, so it would be a bit premature to think that the Galaxy has left the iPhone in the dust following Apple’s struggles in China.
Everyone seems to have sales problems there, but that is because phones coming from Oppo, Xiaomi, or Huawei, are now rivaling and often even surpassing those of the Apple-Samsung duopoly in terms of specs and features.
