Consumer Electronics

Apple Loses Position as Top Smartphone Company as Samsung Rises

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: April 15, 2024 6:50 am

As more evidence that its flagship iPhone sales have disintegrated, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) lost the number one spot in global smartphone shipments in the first quarter. Its deliveries dropped 9.6% from the same quarter a year ago to 50.1 million units. Samsung shipments fell just o.7% to 60.1 million units in that time. Shipments by three Chinese manufacturers followed the two leaders. Overall, global smartphone shipments rose 7.8% to 289.4 million units.

Ryan Reith, group vice president with IDC’s Worldwide Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers, commented, “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.”

China’s Xiaomi, Transsion, Oppo/OnePlus, and Vivo followed Samsung and Apple. Xiaomi and Transsion posted double-digit improvements. Transsion has a large footprint in Africa and the Middle East. None of the three have posted large shipments in Europe or the United States–yet.

Apple’s stock has fallen 10% this year, after being among the best-performing big tech stocks of the past five years. It lost its position among public companies in terms of its market cap ($2.7 trillion), a position taken over by Microsoft ($3.2 trillion). (Here Is How Much Money Apple Makes Every Minute.)

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