Apple’s iPhone dethroned Samsung devices to become the best-selling smartphone series over the course of 2023, the first time South Korea’s largest company has lost the top spot since 2010.
The iPhone accounted for a fifth of the global market with close to 235 million shipments last year, research firm IDC estimates. Samsung, whose shipments slumped double-digits to 226.6 million, came in second, ahead of Chinese device makers like Xiaomi. While Apple has dominated the holiday quarter in recent years, its surge ahead of Samsung over a full year is unprecedented and suggests Apple is weathering an industrywide slump better than its rivals.
Apple benefited from aggressive offers that have enticed a shift toward premium devices. It managed to expand shipments in 2023 despite a lukewarm reception late in the year for the iPhone 15 in China — its biggest international market — where Huawei’s growing popularity and a widening ban on government use is depressing sales.