The researchers at Stocklytics.com have found that the number of consumers who own an Apple smartphone is now greater than the number of Samsung smartphone users. Samsung had previously dominated the global smartphone industry for years, but Apple’s market share has made a significant jump over the last year. Stocklytics.com says that over 35% of all smartphone users owned an iPhone last year, which is 5% more than Samsung smartphone ownership.
The world’s two largest smartphone producers, Apple and Samsung, have been battling for their share in the global smartphone market for over a decade. Their corporate battle started back in 2013, when the South Korean tech giant, once an Apple supplier, released an iPhone-like product through its Galaxy lineup. Since then, the two tech giants have been competing for the title of the world’s largest smartphone vendor, with Samsung winning most of the time. However, that changed last year, showing the American manufacturer delivers the right combination of user experience and status symbol appeal.
According to a Statista consumer insight survey conducted among tens of thousands of smartphone users from 20 countries, 35.5% said they primarily used an iPhone in 2023. This was a considerable increase compared to two years before that. In 2022, 31.2% of all smartphone users owned an iPhone, while in 2021, Apple’s share among users was 26.9%.
On the other hand, Samsung’s user numbers decreased somewhat, slipping below 30% in 2023 and showing a third consecutive year of decline. Chinese manufacturers Huawei and Xiaomi only reached a combined 13% of respondents from mainly developed nations in the 20-country sample, down from 16% a year before.
The title of the biggest global seller of smartphones in 2023 has helped Apple beat Samsung in total smartphone shipments for the first time since their corporate battle started. Statistics show the US tech giant shipped 235 million smartphones last year, 8 million more than Samsung. This pushed Apple’s total iPhone sales in the past decade to a whopping 2.3 billion. Also, statistics show Apple’s annual shipments increased by 53% in this period, rising from 153.4 million in 2013 to 235 million last year.
Although Samsung shipped 800 million more of its smartphones in the past decade, its annual shipments dropped by 28% in this period. Back in 2013, the Korean tech giant sold 316.4 million of its smartphones across the world. This figure dropped to 227 million last year.
See also: The Global Smartphone Market Has Taken A Sharp Downturn
