Apple beats Samsung on mobile phone sales in 2023, according to preliminary data from IDC. A historic change since then It’s the first time that those from Cupertino are leading the market.

It was already raining since Motorola created a military device called the Handie Talkie H12-16 to communicate via radio waves. Those were the times when the world was suffering from World War II. After the tragedy, companies like Bell made the first telephones. In 1955, Ericsson launched the Mobile Telephone System A (MTA), a “mobile” that weighed 40 kilograms, but it wasn’t until 1973 that Motorola CEO Martin Cooper made the first ever call from a mobile phone.

These were the beginnings of devices that became essential in our lives, although we had to wait a few years before we could buy the first commercial mobile phones. Motorola and Nokia were the most important manufacturers of the last two decades of the 20th century.

And the revolution came. After a year of rumors and after the music industry came to the fore with the iPod, on January 9, 2007, Apple unveiled its first iPhone. The terminal, which completely changed the telecommunications industry as well as the computer industry, opened an era of mobility and an offer that became multi-million.

Apple leads mobile phone sales

We’ll briefly review the history of cell phones because that’s what IDC tells us a historic change has occurred. Despite the revolution brought about by the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, Nokia It continued to dominate global sales until smart cell phones replaced “dumb” cell phones. Android came and with it dozens and dozens of manufacturers who produce terminals under its license. The most remarkable was Samsungwhich has dominated the mobile market year after year since 2010.

By 2023, Apple would have displaced the South Korean giant globally, selling 234 million units. Apple is one of the few manufacturers in the top 10 that can increase sales (+3.7%) compared to 2022. And 2023 was a really bad year overall, and despite the green shoots in the last quarter, 2023 closed with a decline of more than 3%.

Samsung was the most affected with a year-on-year drop of 13.6% and was thus surpassed for the first time. The third, Xiaomi, also fell by 4.7%, as did OPPO by almost 10%. Chinese conglomerate Transsion stands out among sales increases in low-cost mobile phones in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, Asia and Oceania.

Apple’s rise to the top spot in the world was based on increase in the share of premium smartphones (more than $600) worldwide, where Apple has gained a whopping 71% and also a large fragmentation of Android with a number of companies fiercely fighting for the mobile pie.

It is likely that the dates will change again in 2024 due to Samsung’s supposed recovery with those Galaxy S24s that look very good and a new generation of foldable devices. But there you have it, a historic milestone where Apple leads the way in cell phone sales. We don’t think it’s celebrated too much in Cupertino because people there are more interested in “quality than quantity” and they continue to be the absolute number one in profits since the launch of the first iPhone.

Finally, and in case of doubt between platforms, we recommend a few articles to guide you on the right path:

• 10 reasons to buy an Android phone over an Apple iPhone.
• 10 reasons to buy an iPhone over an Android phone.