After dominating the global phone market in the final quarter of 2023, Apple has now had to relinquish its throne to its long-time rival, Samsung. According to a recent report from market research firm Counterpoint, Samsung surpassed Apple in sales during the first quarter of 2024.
Since the end of last year, the competition between Apple and Samsung has intensified with back-and-forth advertising. But now, at the beginning of 2024, Samsung has emerged as the winner. Data from Counterpoint shows that Samsung achieved a market share of 20 percent in the first quarter of 2024, surpassing Apple, which reached only 18 percent.
In detail, Counterpoint reports that Samsung managed to sell 19.69 million phone units in the first three months of this year. In contrast, Apple only managed to sell about 17.41 million units during the same period. This is certainly a blow to Apple, which previously triumphed in the final quarter of 2023.
Samsung’s success this time is inseparable from the popularity of their latest flagship phones, the Galaxy S24 Series. Launched globally last January, the Galaxy S24, S24 Plus, and S24 Ultra have managed to captivate consumers with the flagship Galaxy AI features. These features seem very attractive to consumers in various parts of the world, especially in the United States (US) and European markets.
In the US market, although Apple still dominates, their market share fell from 64 percent in the final quarter of 2023 to 48 percent in the first quarter of 2024. On the other hand, Samsung experienced a significant increase in this region. According to Counterpoint, Samsung’s market share in the US reached 36 percent, while in Europe it reached 34 percent in the first quarter of this year.
With this achievement, Samsung once again demonstrates its strength in the fierce competition in the global smartphone market. However, will this dominance last? Or will Apple rise and reclaim its top position in the coming months?
Apple seems confident with the iPhone brand image; the creative advertisements from Samsung, which sometimes take the form of parodies comparing the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy phones, have not been reciprocated with similar advertisements by Apple. It is interesting to await the continuation of the healthy competition between the two technology giants from two different continents.
