Apple may have handed back the title of largest public company in the United States to Microsoft, but it just received a different crown for the first time.
The consumer electronics company was the largest smartphone seller by shipments during 2023, according to new data from market research firm IDC. apple apple,
It shipped 234.6 million devices during the year, according to the data, ahead of Samsung Electronics' 005,930.
Which shipped 226.6 million.
Apple has never held the top spot before, according to IDC data. 2023 was the first time since 2010 that a company other than Samsung held this position.
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Apple's rise came during a difficult year for the smartphone market overall, as overall industry shipments fell by 3.2%. Apple posted 3.7% year-over-year growth, becoming the only one of the top four phone manufacturers to record an increase in shipments.
The company saw shipments rise 11.6% in the calendar fourth quarter, easily leading the market with 80.5 million units, according to IDC. Samsung ranked second during the quarter with 53 million shipments, down 10.9%. Xiaomi and Transsion, two Chinese manufacturers, ranked third and fourth, with 40.7 million shipments (up 22.7%) and 28.2 million shipments (up 68.6%), respectively.
“Although we saw some strong growth from lower-end Android players like Transsion and Xiaomi in the second half of 2023, stemming from rapid growth in emerging markets, the biggest winner is clearly Apple,” Nabila Popal, research director at IDC, said in a statement. “.
Apple will offer its own view on the December quarter when it reports earnings after markets close on February 1.
The company's good standing in IDC's tables comes amid some investor concerns about Apple's position. Some on Wall Street are concerned about renewed competition from Huawei Technologies Co and other manufacturers in China, and Apple is planning a rare discount event in that country for the Lunar New Year holiday.
See more: Apple's decision to discount iPhones in China makes a statement
Apple shares closed 1.2% lower on Tuesday and are down 4.6% to start 2024. The company now holds a market cap of $2.84 trillion, having recently fallen below Microsoft's MSFT,
Which ended the trading day on Tuesday with a valuation of $2.9 trillion.
But IDC noted that Apple still has a strong position in the smartphone market. “Apple's continued success and resilience is due in large part to the growing trend of premium devices, which now represent more than 20% of the market, supported by strong trade-in offerings and interest-free financing plans,” Bhopal said.
