Global smartphone shipments declined 3.2% YoY to 1.17B units in 2023; in a first, Apple gained the top spot with 234.6M units, followed by Samsung with 226.6M
The last time a company not named Samsung was at the top of the smartphone market was 2010, and for 2023 it is now Apple.
Context & Ripple Effects
The leadership change closes a reversal from 2021, when Samsung led a smartphone market that had returned to growth, with Apple second in the 2021 global shipment ranking.
The shift also follows a difficult 2023 start: first-quarter shipments posted a steep decline, while Apple’s year-over-year drop was the smallest among the five largest brands in the early-2023 market contraction.
First-order effects
- Apple moves into the annual No. 1 vendor position with 234.6 million shipments, ending Samsung’s long-running lead.
- Samsung falls to second with 226.6 million shipments as the overall market contracts to 1.17 billion units.
Second-order effects
- The narrow gap between Apple and Samsung makes annual shipment leadership a more contested operating benchmark while the addressable unit market is shrinking.
- Other handset vendors face a tougher competitive backdrop: the two leaders are competing for rank even as total industry shipments remain below the prior year.
Third-order effects
- If the divergence persists, smartphone competition may be defined less by broad market expansion and more by share gains within a mature, contracting unit market.
- The result reinforces a consolidation dynamic in which leadership can change through relative resilience during downturns, though one annual ranking alone does not establish a durable new order.
The trend: The smartphone industry is shifting from volume-led expansion toward a battle for leadership and share during periods of weaker aggregate demand.