Apple finally beat Samsung for the first time to become the leading phone manufacturer in the world in 2023, displacing the South Korean brand from the top spot after 13 years.
Business Wire, citing International Data Corporation's data, reported that Apple made a total of 234.6 million mobile shipments last year in contrast to Samsung's 226.6 million deliveries.
Samsung held the first place in the annual board since 2010.
iPhone devices accounted for a fifth of Apple's market sales last year thanks to a huge holiday record following the release of the iPhone 15 Pro.
The report comes in as Apple started marketing iPhones at discounted prices in China, its biggest market to date.
Android Phones Record 'Strong Growth' in 2023
Apple may have the top spot for the mobile brand category but Google takes the bag for the overall sales performance of its Android OS.
Low-end Android devices from Xiaomi and Transsion recorded larger sales, placing the two in third and fourth place respectively.
Even Huawei experienced relative growth in the past 12 months despite government restrictions on the phone brand.
Google has been diversifying its Android OS for quite some time now as it aims to market affordable and widely accessible products to low-income customers.
Apple has previously been locked out of sales growth in the past years due to high prices and exclusive features unusable for non-iPhone owners.
Smartphone Shipments at a Decline in 2023 - IDC
While several notable phone brands experienced, the IDC noted a huge smartphone shipment decline in the past year by 3.2%, or at least 1.17 billion units, compared to 2022's records.
Samsung itself recorded the biggest shipment decline at 13.6% on a year-to-year basis. Its market share also slipped by 10.9% over the past year.
The IDC blamed macroeconomic challenges in major phone market countries and a surplus of inventory from last year.
Phone manufacturers were only able to regain some profits in the second half of 2023. The IDC expects Apple to continue its fast growth in the first half of 2024.
