This is how the market will be distributed in 2023

The smartphone market is at a historic moment. Last January it was confirmed that for the first time in 13 years, Samsung was no longer the most popular manufacturer in the world, being overtaken by Apple in market share of distributed mobile phones. And now the bad news for Android continues, with the presentation of two major studies that arrive at identical conclusions: Apple is the new leader.

On the one hand, Canalys published its latest study of the European market, that of the last quarter of 2023, and the results are generally not good: the sector fell by 3% compared to the previous quarter, and 8% compared to the same period of the previous year, with 37.8 million units.

Regardless of the brand, this is bad news, although it is true that some manufacturers resist the “tempo” better than others. Specific, Apple continues to convince users to change their mobile for the new generation, while the big Android brands have more difficulty; The result is that Apple not only gained in the last quarter of the year, but also grew by 1%.

This is how the market is divided

Canalys presents Samsung in a very bad light, which according to its data would have fallen by 12% due to a “stabilization” of sales of its Galaxy S and Galaxy A ranges; which is understandable, since Samsung has brought forward the launch of its new Galaxy S24 to January, so enthusiastic users have avoided buying a new mobile phone just before, waiting to see the news.

If Galaxy’s AI can convince them, this situation could be reversed in the first quarter of this year, and Samsung should return to the top

; Furthermore, it’s not all bad news, since Canalys places Samsung as the best-selling manufacturer in 2023, contradicting international IDC data which places it in second position.

Smartphone market share in the last quarter of 2023

Canalys

As for the rest of the manufacturers, Xiaomi maintains its third position in Europe, despite a drop of 10%, Motorola and HONOR completing the top 5; These two brands have the most reason to celebrate, with spectacular growth of 73% and 116%, respectively.

It’s a clue as to where things are headed when it comes to distribution in the market. It’s already obvious that Apple dominates the high end, but this the rest of the market is Android without any type of alternative

. The problem for Android manufacturers is that, according to Canalys, the high-end market represented 40% of sales in the last quarter of 2023; Apple thus comes in first position, since 77% of high-end mobile phones sold are iPhones. Samsung (16%) and Google (4%) are the only brands with a notable presence at the high end, and together the others only reach 2%.

List of the 10 best-selling mobile phones in the world in 2023

Counterpoint

Counterpoint’s data is more precise, and this is where we see the effect of the iPhone, whose models occupy the top 7 best-selling mobile phones in 2023. Indeed, out of the 10 best-selling mobile phones, 7 are iPhones, from the iPhone 13 to the latest iPhone 15 Pro Max; and curiously, the rest of the Top 10 is occupied by Samsung, but not by its Galaxy S23, but by its cheaper models, the Galaxy A14 5G, the Galaxy A04e and the Galaxy A14 4G.