The crisis at Samsung has reached smartphones – the company is losing the market to Apple and Chinese manufacturers

Samsung Electronics was the only one of the world’s five largest smartphone manufacturers whose shipments fell in the third quarter of 2024, and therefore it lost market share to Apple and Chinese competitors, writes the Financial Times.

According to IDC, Samsung’s global market share fell from 21% to 18% year-on-year in the third quarter, and its lead over Apple narrowed to 0.6%. IDC analysts estimate that operating profit at Samsung’s smartphone division fell 30% during the period.

«Samsung’s smartphone business is in decline, says Park Kang-ho, an analyst at Daishin Securities. The company hoped foldable phones would give it an edge over Apple, but consumer response was lukewarm. Now Chinese companies are pushing foldable devices to steal Samsung’s market share.”

Samsung’s 12-year dominance of the smartphone market ended last year, with Apple briefly taking the top spot in sales before the Korean company regained the lead in the first quarter of this year. Research group TechInsights believes new generative AI features will help Apple overtake Samsung next year.

«Chinese brands have become much more competitive not only in prices, but also in functionality,” said a Samsung employee from the smartphone division. He also said that the company is concerned about the activities of competitors and is closely monitoring the performance of new iPhone models.

Many of the problems at the South Korean conglomerate’s various units are interconnected, market observers say. They also noted reports that Samsung may be forced to use rival Qualcomm’s chip for its upcoming flagship Galaxy S25 smartphone due to lower profitability of its own Exynos processors. Samsung’s share price is down 27% year-over-year.

«Samsung faces growing structural problems in most of its previously dominant businesses, from chips to smartphones and displays, due to complacency and bureaucracy,” said Park Ju-geun, head of the corporate research group. Leaders Index from Seoul.

Samsung was a pioneer in the foldable smartphone market but lost its lead earlier this year to Chinese rival Huawei, which had a 27.5 percent foldable market share in the second quarter, according to IDC, compared with Samsung’s 16.4 percent.