Apple did become the world’s largest smartphone vendor by shipments—but for the full calendar year 2023, not indefinitely. IDC’s latest figures in the available data put Samsung narrowly ahead in Q1 2026: 62.4 million shipments to Apple’s 61.8 million.
What IDC announced in January 2024
On January 15, 2024, IDC reported that Apple had taken first place in its annual global smartphone-vendor ranking for the first time, overtaking Samsung. The ranking covered worldwide smartphone shipments during the full 2023 calendar year. IDC’s analysis described the milestone and the market’s decline in its account of Apple and Samsung’s competition.
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IDC estimated that the overall smartphone market shipped about 1.17 billion units in 2023, down 3.2% from the prior year. Apple gained share in a contracting market, but its lead over Samsung was modest—not a decisive gap.
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Contemporaneous coverage of IDC’s tracker reported the following approximate full-year figures. These are shipment estimates, not audited counts of phones bought by consumers.
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| Vendor | 2023 shipments | Global share | Year-over-year change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple | 234.6 million | 20.1% | +3.7% |
| Samsung | 226.6 million | 19.4% | −13.6% |
The difference was about 8 million devices and 0.7 percentage points of global share. The figures were reported by Thurrott, citing IDC’s tracker. The narrow margin matters: “biggest” accurately describes the ranking, but can sound more dominant than the numbers warrant.
Why Apple moved ahead
Premium demand and ways to spread the cost
IDC pointed to Apple’s strength in higher-priced phones as consumers continued to trade up. Trade-in programs and interest-free financing can make an expensive upgrade feel more manageable, supporting demand for premium devices. That helps explain how Apple could grow shipments while the wider market shrank; it does not mean premium phones became affordable for every buyer.
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Contrasting results in a weak market
Apple was the only company among the top three vendors to post annual shipment growth in IDC’s 2023 summary. Samsung’s shipments fell 13.6% in the reported figures. IDC also described broader pressure on Android shipments, which declined by about 5% in 2023 and about 20% over the preceding five years. Those ecosystem figures provide context, but Android is not a single vendor: its devices are made by many companies.
China was one factor, not the whole story
IDC said restrictions on Huawei’s access to components needed for competitive 5G smartphones had created an opening in China’s premium segment that Apple could exploit. This is one part of the explanation for Apple’s 2023 result, not proof that Apple dominates China today. Competition and regional rankings change, and a result in one country should not be generalized to the global market.
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What “biggest smartphone maker” means—and what it does not
IDC’s headline was about vendor shipments: phones sent into distribution channels, as estimated by a market tracker. It was not a ranking of every way to measure a phone company’s size. Shipment estimates can be revised and should be attributed to the tracker rather than treated as audited company-reported sales.
- Shipments: Devices sent into distribution channels. This is the metric behind the 2023 headline.
- Sell-through: Devices actually purchased by end users, a different measure from shipments.
- Revenue and profit: The value of sales and earnings after costs, respectively; neither is established by a shipment ranking.
- Installed base: Devices currently in use, which reflects past sales and replacement patterns as well as new shipments.
- Operating-system share: iOS versus Android. Android’s many manufacturers mean operating-system share is not the same as individual-vendor share.
Apple’s iPhone family and Samsung’s wide-ranging Galaxy portfolio also differ in structure. A vendor ranking compares the companies as suppliers; it does not say that their product ranges, price coverage, or sales mix are alike.
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What IDC’s latest available ranking says
In IDC’s Q1 2026 data, Samsung was first and Apple second. The figures show a close contest, not a large separation.
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|---|---|---|---|
| Samsung | 62.4 million | 21.2% | +2.9% |
| Apple | 61.8 million | 21.0% | +4.4% |
| Xiaomi | 33.8 million | 11.5% | −19.1% |
| OPPO | 30.7 million | 10.5% | −9.9% |
| vivo | 21.2 million | 7.2% | −6.9% |
IDC reported a global total of 293.8 million shipments for the quarter, down 2.9% year over year, amid memory-supply constraints and higher component prices. Samsung’s lead over Apple was 600,000 units and 0.2 percentage points of share. IDC defines a statistical tie as a share difference of 0.1 percentage points or less, so this result was close but not technically a tie. See IDC’s smartphone market-share data and its market-share methodology and insights.
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Why a quarterly leader can differ from the annual leader
Apple typically launches new iPhones late in the year, helping lift its shipments in the holiday quarter. Samsung sells across entry-level, midrange, flagship, and foldable categories throughout the year. Different product calendars and a strong seasonal quarter can change which company leads a particular period without showing a fundamental collapse or breakthrough.
That is why “Apple won in 2023” and “Samsung led in Q1 2026” can both be true. Always check whether a headline refers to a quarter or a full year. IDC’s Q1 2026 outlook also forecast a 13.9% year-over-year fall in worldwide shipments for 2026, citing memory constraints and higher prices; that is a forecast, not a final annual result.
The rest of the market matters
Apple and Samsung are the two largest vendors in IDC’s Q1 2026 table, but the gap between them and other major companies does not make the rest of the market irrelevant. Xiaomi, OPPO, and vivo shipped tens of millions of phones that quarter. Their scale, along with Transsion’s strength in price-sensitive emerging markets and Huawei’s partial resurgence in China, underscores how fragmented the Android vendor field is. One global ranking also cannot capture how brands perform in every country or price range.
Do not mistake a regional or model-level result for a global vendor ranking. For example, Counterpoint Research identified the iPhone 16 as the world’s best-selling smartphone model in 2025 and said Apple held seven of the top ten model positions. That is a model-sales ranking, not the same measure as IDC’s ranking of vendor shipments.
What the ranking means if you are buying a phone
A company’s shipment position can show scale and demand, but it cannot tell you whether a particular phone is the right purchase. Base the decision on the specific model, your budget after any trade-in, software support, camera and battery priorities, storage needs, repair and warranty terms, and compatibility with devices or services you already use. Apple may suit someone invested in iOS and the Apple ecosystem; Samsung offers Android devices across a wider range of formats and prices. Neither company’s position in a shipment table makes every model the best value.
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