No company sold more smartphones than Apple in 2023, according to a market-research firm. iPhone shipments grew last year and outnumbered Samsung’s Androids.
It’s a milestone Apple never reached before.
2023 iPhone shipments beat all rivals
Apple and Samsung dominate the world phone market. Just those two account for about 40% of all handsets sold anywhere. And a strong year for iPhone pushed the company ahead of its perennial rival.
“Not only is Apple the only player in the Top 3 to show positive growth annually, but also bags the number 1 spot annually for the first time ever,” said Nabila Popal, an analyst with IDC.
There were 235 million iPhone units shipped in 2023, according to the analysts, giving Apple 20.1% of the global phone market. That’s a 3.7% increase over 2022 shipments.
Samsung shipped 227 million units in the same period, for 19.4% of the world market. Its shipments plunged 13.6% year over year.
Apple did especially well in the fourth quarter of 2023 — shipments were up 11.6% over the same period of the previous year, giving it 24.7% of global shipments.
And Apple’s top-of-the-line models were the most popular, according to a separate report from a trusted analyst.
And the rest
There are other competitors in the global smartphone competition, of course. But all are much smaller.
“While we saw some strong growth from low-end Android players like Transsion and Xiaomi in the second half of 2023, stemming from rapid growth in emerging markets, the biggest winner is clearly Apple,” noted IDC’s Popal.
Chart: IDC
