Smartphone shipments have grown for six straight quarters, says IDC

With the onset of January, IDC analysts could not resist publishing their report on the dynamics of the smartphone market in the fourth quarter, noting that supply volumes have been growing for six consecutive quarters, and according to the results of the previous one they increased by 2.4% to 331.7 million units . Accordingly, at the end of the entire year, smartphone shipments increased by 6.4% to 1.24 billion units. The smartphone market had been shrinking for two years in a row, so we can talk about a recovery in demand.

Image Source: Apple

This year, according to IDC representatives, we should expect continued growth in smartphone shipments, but at a slower rate compared to 2024. First, the life cycles of smartphones have begun to increase. Secondly, we cannot exclude the impact of possible increases in customs tariffs in the United States on the global smartphone market, although at the moment the effect remains minimal.

Last year, according to IDC, smartphone market participants adjusted to challenging macroeconomic conditions. New products appeared in different price segments, customers were offered interest-free installments and subsidies for smartphone upgrades.

Apple managed to maintain its leading position at the end of 2024, but iPhone shipments decreased in the fourth quarter by 4.1% to 76.9 million units, which allowed the company to retain only 23.2% of the global smartphone market. Samsung also saw its smartphone shipments decline in the fourth quarter, but by a more modest 2.7%, allowing it to retain second place and 15.6% of the global market. The Chinese Xiaomi will soon start breathing in its back, which increased smartphone shipments by 4.8% in the fourth quarter and increased its market share from 12.6 to 12.9% year-on-year.

Image source: IDC

Fourth place was shared between Transsion and Vivo, each occupying 8.2% of the market, and while the former reduced smartphone shipments by 3.4% in the last quarter, the latter increased them by 12.7%. All other smartphone vendors collectively account for 32% of the global market, up from 30.2% in the fourth quarter of 2023 over the year.

At the end of 2024, Oppo took overall “minus fourth” place, trailing Transsion by only 0.1 percentage points in terms of market share. While Transsion shipped 106.9 million smartphones last year, Oppo limited itself to 104.8 million devices. As IDC representatives note, last year there was a decline in demand for folding smartphones with flexible displays. Developer budgets will now be redistributed in favor of introducing artificial intelligence systems.