Global smartphone shipments declined 3.2% to 1.17-billion units in 2023, the lowest full-year volume in a decade, driven largely by macroeconomic challenges and elevated inventory early in the year.

While the global smartphone market remains challenged, growth in the second half laid the foundation for an expected recovery in 2024, preliminary data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker shows.

The fourth quarter of 2023 saw 8.5% year-over-year growth and 326.1-million shipments, higher than the forecast of 7.3% growth.

Samsung, for the first time since 2010, has fallen from the top spot as Apple secured the number one ranking for 2023, after achieving an all-time high market share, revealing a “sort of shifting of power” at the top of the largest consumer electronics market.

“While we saw some strong growth from low-end Android players like Transsion and Xiaomi in the second half of 2023, stemming from rapid growth in emerging markets, the biggest winner is clearly Apple,” explains IDC Worldwide Tracker research director Nabila Popal.

Apple, which achieved the top spot for the first time, is also the only player in the top three to show positive yearly growth, despite increased regulatory challenges and renewed competition from Huawei in China.

“Apple’s ongoing success and resilience is in large part owing to the increasing trend of premium devices, which now represent over 20% of the market, fuelled by aggressive trade-in offers and interest-free financing plans.”

The IDC Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker shows that, during 2023, Apple shipped 234.6-million units and had a 20.1% market share. This is a 3.7% improvement from the 226.3-million units shipped in 2022, when the company recorded a 18.8% market share.

Samsung, meanwhile, experienced a 13.6% decline, from 262.2-million units shipped and a 21.7% market share in 2022, to 226.6- million units shipped and a 19.4% market share in 2023.

Xiaomi, ranking number three, achieved shipments of 145.9-million and a market share of 12.5% in 2023, a 4.7% decline from 153.2-million shipments and a market share of 12.7% in 2022.

OPPO recorded a 9.9% decline from 114.4-million shipments and a market share of 9.5% in 2022 to 103.1-million units shipped and a market share of 8.8% in 2023.

Transsion, securing the fifth spot, achieved significant growth of 30.8% to 94.9-units shipped and a market share of 8.1% in 2023, compared with shipments of 72.6-million and a market share of 6% in 2022.

In the others category, collective shipments reached 361.8-million and a market share of 31% in 2023, a decline of 4.1% to 377.2- million shipments and a market share of 31.3%.

“The overall shift in ranking at the top of the market further highlights the intensity of competition,” says IDC Worldwide Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers group VP Ryan Reith.