iPhone sales drop 10% as Samsung steadies and Chinese rivals grow
New figures show that Apple's global iPhone sales declined by over five million in the first quarter of 2024, compared to the same time in 2023.
Apple's iPhone 15 Pro (left) and Samsung's Galaxy S24
In March, it was reported that Apple had cut its iPhone orders because of reduced demand in China, but IDC now says that the decline is worldwide. The research firm also says that of all the major smartphone makers, Apple had the sharpest year on year decline.
IDC's research claims that Apple shipped 50.1 million iPhones in the first quarter of 2024. That's down 9.6% from the 55.4 million shipped in the same quarter in 2023.
Samsung, in comparison, shipped 60.1 million phones in this period, which is approximately the same year on year. Samsung saw out the quarter with 20.8% market share, down from last year's 22.5%, while Apple ended with 17.3%, down from 20.7% in Q1 2023.
Q1 2024 smartphone market share (Source: IDC)
"While Apple managed to capture the top spot at the end of 2023, Samsung successfully reasserted itself as the leading smartphone provider in the first quarter," said IDC's Ryan Reith. "While IDC expects these two companies to maintain their hold on the high end of the market, the resurgence of Huawei in China, as well as notable gains from Xiaomi, Transsion, OPPO/OnePlus, and vivo will likely have both OEMs looking for areas to expand and diversify."
Previously, IDC has noted that Apple's iPhone has generally continued to gain market share as demand for smartphones has been continually declining for some years. The company now says that the "smartphone market is emerging from the turbulence of the last two years both stronger and changed."
IDC expects to see local brands Xiaomi and Transsion grow, while it says that Samsung is now in "a stronger position overall than they were in recent quarters."
First-quarter sales do tend to favor Samsung over Apple, however. While Apple launches new iPhones in September to capture holiday season sales, Samsung typically announces its new models in the first quarter.
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Comments
Perhaps it is time for Apple to offer an iPhone with real cutting-edge technology and a new design instead of having almost the same case for 10 years. I admit that the latest ads for Samsung made me want to change my phone.No-one knows the actual volume of iPhone sales except Apple.
Apples pathway is on the edge (vertical computer companies can do that) while Samsung, Google, Microsoft, Meta are designing for the nebulous cloud. I don't think it is a bonus to use a s24 to phone home to the cloud and git an answer to your prayers three and half to four hours later.
Apple has been designing NPUs into their SOCs, to use actual AI-driven features for sometime, in addition Apple has included LiDAR in the Apple Vision which has also been in their iPhones/iPads for the last four years and it plays a big part in supplying data for so-called AI functions at the edge.
https://www.tomsguide.com/phones/google-pixel-phones/i-tested-video-boost-on-the-pixel-8-pro-heres-the-results Four hours to get a answer.......
https://www.androidpolice.com/video-boost-pixel-8-pro-review/ Phone home to the cloud.....
https://technastic.com/galaxy-ai-features-samsung/ Many of the the so-called AI features require phoning home (note the long list of user unfriendly instructions).
Note: the blasé attitude about phoning home for AI features how does that work being away from a cell tower/WiFi connection with a mobile device sending and waiting multiple hours for a response back? Apple definitely isn't on that user experience pathway incredible.
The willingness to design and release a phoning home AI solution and think that is an acceptable user experience pretty much highlights the difference between Apple and their competition and it also clearly highlights the strength of the Apple Silicon SOC'S.
More vertical than Apple?
Some things will be done in the cloud because they simply can't be done on device.
Waiting to do things on device and deliberately avoiding the cloud makes literally no sense at all. Especially as Apple already uses the cloud for many areas.
Services will be done wherever it makes sense to do them.
Cloud, edge, device.
I posted a link to a research document recently on 6G proposals where the network itself would be AI capable.
What percentage of iDevice users do you think have no internet connection available to them?
https://appleinsider.com/articles/24/04/15/apples-ios-18-ai-will-be-on-device-preserving-privacy-and-not-server-side
Likely, Apple will do very well with iOS 18 and iPhone 16 driving upgrades, if in fact consumers really do crave AI features, and if Apple actually delivers. I guess we will know in about 5 months time.
We shall wait and see if Apple proposes (they won't) to use a AI solution that takes 3-4 hours to work and get a answer from the cloud because cellular is costly with big files, however I would bet that such a solution would suddenly be unacceptable to the so-called tech analysts, and the geek crowd with Apple attached to that 3-4 hour phone home tape delay however tech analysts are gleefully accepting of it right now with Apple apparently out of the picture.
WiFi in most parts of the world is untrustworthy/unavailable out and about even in the USA and Europe, smartphones/tablets/smartwatches carry too much info to trust any WiFi on the road and eventually your luck will run out being connected to them. Running AI on the edge is the most secure solution but it isn't the easiest to design/engineer and deploy but that is the pathway edge that Apple is on.
Edge processing (remember 'edge' is not exclusively on device) is simply an option.
Deliberately limiting your options to on device processing will not improve the user experience where cloud processing is also an option.
On-device processing is used for privacy and latency. Those are the two main reasons. It has always been that way. For everyone.
Are you suggesting that if it cannot be done on-device users will be forced to go without?
I'd say that is totally out of the question.
Well of course, luckily there is always the web option which can directly connect with different services from other vendors even though some may be subscription based.
Who wouldn't accept overnight processing if the alternative was not getting a result?
Wifi and internet services worldwide may be problematic but that isn't the case at all for almost all iPhone users because an iPhone without decent wifi/internet/cellular isn't going to be a viable option.