World supply of smartphones in 2024 increased by 7% after a protracted fall, but the 2025th promises to be difficult

According to the results of 2024, the world smartphone market increased by 7 % – the supply volume reached 1.22 billion units, for the first time demonstrating growth after two consistent years of the decline. The leadership among manufacturers for the second year in a row is held by Apple, whose success was facilitated by the growth of developing markets, and stable indicators in North America and Europe helped to compensate for the problems in mainland China, the analytical company Canlys said.

Source of images: Canalys.com

IPhone deliveries in 2024 decreased by 1 %, to 225.9 million units. The second place with the same decrease by 1 % was taken by Samsung, which sold 222.9 million smartphones. In the third position, Xiaomi was fixed, which made the greatest contribution to the growth of the industry in 2024. The fourth for the first time became Transsion (it includes Tecno and Infinix), and Oppo (including OnePlus) took the fifth line – Chinese companies showed an increase of 15 % and 3 %, increasing supplies to 106.7 million and 103.6 million devices, respectively.

For the first time after Pandemia, 2024 marked the return of the smartphone market to growth. The mass segment showed an increase in demand, which partly contributed to the desire of consumers to update the devices acquired during the pandemic. This turned out to be beneficial to those manufacturers whose products are the best ratio of price and quality, however, on the other hand, the risk of reducing margins in order to maintain competitive prices, analysts noted. To avoid this and maintain profitability, the companies had to reduce costs and optimize resource planning. Developing markets continued to grow, and mature demonstrated signs of recovery: mainland China showed an increase in sales by 4 %, North America – by 1 %, Europe – by 3 %. In these regions, the demand was stimulated by the advertising campaigns of manufacturers, including discounts, trad-in programs and the sale of devices in the kit.

Strong demand is noted for flagship models, which played in the hands of Apple and Samsung. In the premium segment, consumers are increasingly choosing devices heading the ruler. In the Apple, the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max model in 2024 were sold 11 % more actively than their predecessors of the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max a year earlier. Samsung recorded the highest sales volume of the flagship Galaxy S since 2019, and the top models of Ultra occupied a record share. In 2025, with Galaxy S25, Samsung intends to continue strengthening the flagship line, relying on artificial intelligence functions, including the Google Gemini Advanced subscription.

However, 2025 promises to be difficult for smartphone manufacturers. In 2024, developing markets were the main growth driver, but a positive dynamics slow down there, as some of them reached a saturation point. The key task for companies is to find a balance between short -term efficiency, management of reserves and long -term investments. Additional uncertainty is created by economic fluctuations, US duties and new regulatory requirements. Further growth can ensure the high popularity of premium models, subsidizing mechanisms in mainland China and new financial models. In 2025, for manufacturers, the average sale price (ASP) of devices, profitability in different segments, diversification of grocery lines, expanding the presence in various markets, marketing oriented to the brand, and strengthening cooperation with suppliers will be priority.