Quarterly smartphone market share worldwide by vendor 2009-2024

Samsung held the largest slice of the global smartphone market by shipments during the third quarter of 2024, followed by Apple. Xiaomi has taken a tight grip on the third position, accounting for a market share of 13.5 percent in the third quarter of 2024. 

Samsung and Apple smartphone sales

Smartphone vendors have been suffering from the events of the past couple of years, including the pandemic and the economic downturn. However, they all appear to be recovering, as shown by the recent increase in shipments. For instance, mostly based on the main line of Galaxy Series, Samsung's smartphone shipments totaled nearly 226.5 million units globally in 2023.

Next to Samsung, Apple is a major manufacturer of smartphones worldwide, with the company shipping more than 232 million iPhones worldwide in 2023 - a number that made Apple leading smartphone vendor for the first time ever. Apple’s sales tend to be very cyclical, peaking in the fourth quarter each year, much like in the fourth quarter of 2023, when they took the first spot in terms of units shipped globally with around 80.5 units.

Huawei falls outside the leading five vendors

While Apple and Samsung are typically the two major companies challenging for the top spot, Huawei had provided a strong challenge in recent years. Particularly, the Chinese company managed to climb the smartphone market ladder between 2011 and 2020, recording shipments of over 32 million smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2020. However, strong performances from rivals like Xiaomi and the effects of the U.S. trade ban have since seen Huawei fall outside the list of top five vendors by smartphone shipments.