According to a recent report by Counterpoint Research, the hierarchy in the global smartphone market remains largely unchanged. Samsung has successfully maintained its lead over Apple for another year, concluding 2024 with a slight volume advantage, mirroring the close contest seen in 2023. While the apparent gap in market share between the two competitors seems consistent, this might be attributed to number rounding.
Emerging Trends: More Than Just Samsung and Apple
As we await the detailed global smartphone shipment report from Counterpoint, it is anticipated that Samsung's minimal gain in 2024—a 1 percent increase in sales—will slightly improve its standing, contrasted by Apple's 2 percent decline in sales. Interestingly, both companies experienced a 1 percent dip in market share amidst a modest industry recovery, indicating room for growth ahead for both Samsung's Galaxy series and Apple's iPhones.
In a broader context, the smartphone market as a whole has shown signs of recovery, with a 4 percent year-over-year growth after two challenging years. Xiaomi emerged as a key contributor to this resurgence, demonstrating a 12 percent increase in sales, the highest among the top five vendors. As Xiaomi continues to push into the premium segment, its global share rose from 12 percent in 2022 to 14 percent in 2024, reflecting a shift towards higher-end devices post-pandemic.
Competitive Landscape and Key Insights
Other notable players like Vivo and Huawei also showcased positive growth in 2024, with Vivo's sales increasing by 9 percent, almost allowing it to surpass Oppo for fourth place in global shipments. Remarkably, Vivo claimed the title of the top vendor in China, the world's largest smartphone market. Meanwhile, Huawei, despite its successes in China, remains out of the global top five.
Looking ahead, expectations are high for the future of the smartphone market, with projections for continued growth in both volume and revenue through 2025. Analysts predict that revenue growth will outpace volume growth, anticipating an increase of 8 percent compared to a 4 percent rise in unit sales.
