Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro
Both Apple and Samsung have increased their sales in Q4 2024 compared to a year earlier, but rising competition from China’s Xiaomi and others mean the iPhone’s market share has dropped.
Apple appears to be turning around its problems in China, despite the increased competition from local brands, it was sales in that country that helped boost the iPhone’s fortunes in Q2 2024. According to the Wall Street Journal, stronger performance in China led quarterly shipments of the iPhone to rise 1.5% year over year, to 45.2 million.
Samsung also saw growth of 0.7% YoY, bringing it to 53.9 million units. Reportedly, while Apple’s growth is ascribed to a recovering Chinese market, Samsung’s is said to be because of its focus on AI and its flagship models.
With both Apple and Samsung, however, the growth comes as the overall smartphone market has also grown. Despite their increased shipment figures, both firms saw their overall market share drop.
Apple’s share fell from 16.6% in Q2 2023 to 15.8% in Q2 2024. Over the same period, Samsung’s share fell from 20% to 18.9%.
In comparison, Chinese firm Xiaomi increased its market share from 12.4% to 14.8% over the same period, while Vivo rose from 7.9% to 9.1%.
That means Xiaomi sold 42.3 million units, only slightly behind Apple. Vivo sold 25.9 million.
Significantly, neither Apple nor Samsung tend to launch new phones during the second quarter. Then Apple will be leaning on its Apple Intelligence feature for the forthcoming iPhone 16 range and expects to see a significant boost in sales.
The likelihood of AI features boosting smartphone sales has also now been backed up by chip manufacturer TSMC. While its second-quarter results will not be announced until July 17, 2024, Reuters says that analysts are predicting a 30% rise in profits because of demand for AI processors.
