Samsung and Apple produced the most mobile phones last year, with Xiaomi taking the lead

The mobile market has faced significant declines in the last few years, due to several different factors. One of the main ones was the war in Ukraine, which was followed by a global increase in inflation, and even before these aspects, the semiconductor crisis had a big impact on sales. But as it seems, the market has finally recovered a bit and is growing after a long time.

Cell phones sold a little better last year

The mobile market has certainly not been in an ideal mood in recent years, and 2023 was the worst in a decade. As the latest figures from Counterpoint Researchlast year manufacturers saw a long-awaited improvement, with phone sales rising a respectable 4%. Virtually all major markets saw growth, with sales rising the most in Europe, China and Latin America.

And how were the individual manufacturers? The championship was defended by Samsung, which increased its sales by 1%, but its market share, on the other hand, fell by 1%. Although the South Korean giant has been the first for a long time, its share is decreasing every year, and Apple is in a similar situation, with the difference that its sales have also decreased. They were 2% lower year-on-year and its market share fell by 1%.

Market shares for 2022, 2023 and 2024 | photo: Counterpoint Research

Xiaomi wiped everyone’s eyes

And who improved the most at the expense of Samsung and Apple? It was Xiaomi, which, unlike these two companies, has been growing in both sales and market share for a long time. Xiaomi posted a whopping 12% year-on-year sales growth, and the Chinese giant increased its share by 1% to 14%. For the second Apple therefore loses only 4% in market share.

The fourth in line, Oppo, saw its share drop by 1% year-on-year and sales were down by a significant 8%, even though its numbers include sales of the OnePlus brand. In fifth place is Vivo, which improved significantly overall and reported 8% better sales year-on-year, although the market share remained at the same 8% as in 2023.

Sales were flagging

For Samsung, the mid-range phones from the Galaxy A series and of course the current flagship Galaxy S24 generated the highest numbers, with the brand doing well in Europe and the US. Within Apple, the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max models scored the most, while the basic iPhone 16 was not particularly convincing in terms of sales. The group of phones with a price of around 1,000 dollars (24,000 crowns) grew the fastest year-on-year.