In a groundbreaking reversal of fortune, Apple succeeded in dethroning Samsung, the reigning monarch of the smartphone market since 2010. This was corroborated by assessments of not only Canalys but also IDC. The last similar occurrence took place over a decade ago, thus making this a momentous event.

A study carried out by IDC reveals that during 2023, Apple dispatched an impressive 234.6 million smartphones. This accounted for a dominant 20.1% of the total market share. In comparison, Samsung could only manage to ship 226.6 million pieces, thereby garnering a 19.4% share of the market.

Not far behind, Xiaomi achieved third place by shipping 145.9 million units and thereby capturing a 12.5% market share. Following Xiaomi, Oppo shipped 103.1 million units, accounting for an 8.8% market footprint. Transsion, despite being last among the top five, managed to ship 94.9 million units, securing a market share of 8.1%.

When comparing the figures of 2023 with those of the preceding year, Apple experienced a relatively modest increase in shipments by 3.7%. Transsion stood out with an impressive surge of 30.8%. To provide some background, Transsion is the parent company of Tecno and Infinix.

Contrarily, Samsung's dispatches plummeted by 13.6% compared to the previous year, with Xiaomi and Oppo experiencing dips of 4.7% and 9.9% respectively. The cumulative market shipments decreased by 3.2% in 2023 when juxtaposed with the statistics of 2022.

In the final quarter of 2023 spanning from October to December, Apple again topped the charts with 80.5 million shipments, capturing a 24.7% market share. Samsung, on the other hand, managed 53 million units dispatched for a 16.3% slice of the market. Xiaomi shipped 40.7 million units, holding onto a 12.5% slice of the market pie. However, Transsion bagged fourth place with 28.2 million units dispatched and 8.6% of the market share, while fifth place was taken by vivo with 24.1 million shipments and 7.5% market share.

On the upside, the total market grew in the fourth quarter of 2023 by 8.5% as compared to Q4 2022. These figures make it abundantly clear that Apple truly led the way in the smartphone market in 2023.