Samsung once again emerged victorious in the global smartphone market, ranking number one in shipments. The South Korean firm defeated Apple, Xiaomi, OPPO, Vivo, and other smartphone brands in the contracting market. According to a report from Counterpoint Research, the global smartphone market was down by 8% points in Q3 2023 compared to Q3 2022.
Samsung was the biggest smartphone brand in the world in Q3 2023
This year has been rough for all smartphone brands, including Apple and Samsung. However, thanks to higher profitability, they are in a better position compared to most other Chinese smartphone brands. Samsung captured a 20% share of the global smartphone market in Q3 2023, but it experienced 13% lower shipments compared to the previous year. Samsung launched its fifth-generation foldable phones, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and the Galaxy Z Fold 5, during the quarter and managed to improve sales of the Z Flip device compared to its predecessor, thanks to a bigger cover screen and improved performance. The Galaxy Z Fold 5 had mixed results as it didn't bring any major improvement.
Apple was the second biggest smartphone brand in Q3 2023, with its shipments also dropping by 9% compared to the previous year. This could be because people were waiting for the launch of a new iPhone 15 series, but that would have been true last year as well. According to the report, Apple had a 16% share of the market in the third quarter of the year.
Xiaomi, with a 12% market share, ranked third globally. Its smartphone shipments slid by 15% compared to the previous year. OPPO and Vivo each had an 8% share of the global smartphone market. While Vivo's phone shipments dropped by 14%, OPPO's shipments dropped by 15% compared to Q3 2022. Huawei, Honor, and Tecno (Transsion) are the only smartphone brands that saw their shipments improve year-on-year.
Analysts expect the smartphone demand to rebound by Q4 2023 or early next year. That timeline will line up with the launch of the Galaxy S24 series, which is expected to bring huge improvements to display, performance, and software. Samsung has hinted that we could see a lot of Generative AI features with the Galaxy S24 series.
Author's Note: Over the past year, the smartphone market has been going through a rough time. Almost all smartphone brands have seen their sales and shipments decrease, and during these testing times, Samsung has successfully managed to increase sales of its higher mid-range and high-end smartphones by selling more Galaxy S and Galaxy Z phones. Despite lower sales, selling more high-end devices brings improved profits. Hence, the company was able to offset the losses from its semiconductor chip unit by boosting the profitability of its smartphone and display panel divisions.
