Apple, the American tech giant, faces further challenges as recent reports indicate it has lost its position as the world’s top smartphone manufacturer. The California-based company has been overtaken by its long-standing rival, Samsung.
Samsung Surpasses Apple
The Korean mobile manufacturer has surpassed Apple, currently holding 20.8 percent of the smartphone market compared to Apple’s 17.3 percent. Moreover, Apple’s phone shipments plummeted by a significant 10 percent in the first quarter of 2024. Notably, its shipments to China also declined by over 2 percent compared to 2023.
While the EV market witnessed a similar shuffle, with Tesla overtaking BYD, overall numbers for major players, including Tesla and BYD, declined due to decreasing demand for EV cars.
In the smartphone industry, the situation appears even graver for Apple, as global shipments only saw a 7.8 percent increase to 289.4 million units. Competition from other manufacturers, particularly from Chinese and other Asian players in the Android market, adds to the challenge.
Interestingly, just last year in December, the company regained the top spot based on strong sales numbers. However, competitors from China, such as Huawei and Xiaomi, have intensified competition for Apple.
This setback comes at an unfavourable time for it, the second-largest company in the world after Microsoft. Recently, the US government sued Apple for attempting to monopolize the market with its iPhones. Additionally, the European Union fined the company $1 billion for market exploitation through its Apple Music service application.
These developments coincide with growing calls for greater scrutiny of tech giants, including, Google, and Meta, from Western countries such as the US and EU member states, according to Free Press Journal.
(Finance World and The Free Press Journal have published the article under a mutual content partnership arrangement.)
