Cell phones: Apple surpasses Samsung and leads world production – 01/16/2024 – Tech

Apple became the world’s largest cellphone producer in 2023, ending Samsung’s 12-year reign as the industry leader.

According to research group IDC, the iPhone maker was the only major cell phone manufacturer to record annual growth in units in 2023, reaching 234.6 million units, an increase of 3.7%. Samsung produced 226.6 million units.

This increase from Apple came in a year that was the worst in a decade for the smartphone market, with device shipments falling 3.2% to 1.17 billion units, IDC said.

In terms of revenue and profits, Apple has long been the largest smartphone maker thanks to the iPhone’s dominance in the high-end segment of the market. But last year was the first year in which it also led in the number of cell phones produced.

Samsung, which is preparing to launch its Galaxy S24 flagship model this week, reported a 13.6% drop in shipments last year as Huawei regained share in China and makers of cheaper Android phones reported higher growth. strong.

In particular, Chinese manufacturer Transsion —whose Tecno, Infinix and itel brands have made it the dominant smartphone company in Africa—grew 30.8% last year, putting it in the top five, behind Xiaomi and Oppo.

See the cell phone production ranking below

Position	Brand	Market share
1st	Apple	20.1%
2nd	Samsung	19.4%
3rd	Xiaomi	12.5%
4th	Oppo	8.8%
5th	Transsion	8.1%

_{Source: IDC}

“In 2023, Samsung focused on the mid-to-high-end segment to make a profit, but lost share in the low-end segment as well as its leading position in the global market,” said Amber Liu, manager of Canalys, a research group , which also ranked Apple as the market leader last year in figures released on Tuesday.