iPhone 15 Pro Max was Q1's best-selling smartphone; Pro phones were 50% of Apple's sales, up from 24% in 2020; Apple and Samsung each had five phones in top 10
- Apple and Samsung dominated the list of top 10 best-selling smartphones in Q1 2024. — This was the first quarter in which the top 10 smartphones were all 5G capable.
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple entered 2024 after taking seven of the 10 best-selling smartphone slots worldwide in 2023, while Samsung held the other three; that followed an earlier period in which Apple held eight top-10 positions in 2022. The Q1 results show the contest shifting from Apple-led concentration to an even split between the two vendors at the model level.
The more consequential change is within Apple: Pro models rose from 24% of its sales in 2020 to half in Q1 2024, extending the premium-model momentum evident in the iPhone 14 Pro Max's shipment lead in H1 2023.
First-order effects
- Apple's current iPhone mix is more heavily weighted toward Pro devices, with the Pro Max leading the quarter; its flagship line therefore carries more of the company's handset-sales performance.
- Apple and Samsung immediately dominate the global bestseller list, with five models apiece, while every top-10 model is now 5G-capable.
Second-order effects
- Samsung has a clearer incentive to defend both its flagship and volume-model positions, since Apple’s premium-model strength no longer translates into exclusive control of the bestseller rankings.
- The all-5G top 10 makes 5G a baseline requirement among the most popular models rather than a distinguishing feature, narrowing differentiation toward device tiers and product mix.
Third-order effects
- If the Pro mix persists, smartphone competition will increasingly turn on sustaining higher-end model demand, not merely placing a large number of models in bestseller rankings.
- The Apple-Samsung split suggests a more concentrated global bestseller market: the earlier Apple-heavy 2023 top-10 ranking has given way to a two-vendor contest, leaving less visible room for other brands among the very highest-volume models.
The trend: Flagship smartphone demand is becoming more premium-weighted while 5G standardizes across the mass-market bestseller tier.