Apple has had a great
2023
and a
report
suggested that the company became a top seller by units too last year, overtaking Samsung that led for 12 years. In yet another feat, the iPhone maker has dominated the list of top 10 global best-selling smartphones by capturing top seven spots for the first time.
According to a report by Counterpoint Research, Samsung secured the remaining three places in the list – an increase of one spot from the 2022 list.
There have been no other brands on the list since 2021. The report also said that the combined market share of the top 10 smartphones reached the highest ever at 20% in 2023, up from 19% in 2022.
This was the top selling iPhone in 2023
Apple’s iPhone 14 was the best-selling smartphone of 2023, with the US and China making up half of its sales. It contributed 19% of the total iPhone sales for 2023, which is down from the 2022 bestseller iPhone 13’s 28% share.
The report noted that limited differentiation between the iPhone 13 and iPhone 14 led to lower adoption of the base variant and increased sales of the iPhone Pro variants – which is why iPhone 14 Pro Max and iPhone 14 Pro grabbed the second and third spots, respectively.
On the fourth spot is iPhone 13, which is the oldest iPhone model on the list, with double-digit YoY volume growth in Japan and India.
The iPhone 15 series took the next three spots with iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 taking up the fifth, sixth and seventh spots. These three phones were on the global bestseller list for Q4 2023, with the iPhone 15 Pro Max becoming the best-selling smartphone.
“In 2023, India became the fifth smartphone market to exceed 10 million iPhone unit sales in a single year, highlighting the market’s growing importance for Apple. These factors contributed to the iPhone 15 series sales matching the performance of the iPhone 14 series in 2022,” the report noted.
Samsung’s budget phones make the cut
It was not the premium smartphones but Samsung’s budget A series that captured three spots in the top 10 list due to its strong value proposition and presence across various geographies and customer categories.
The Samsung Galaxy A14 5G secured eighth place driven by high sales in the US and India. Notably, it was the best-selling smartphone in India for 2023.
The only LTE-capable smartphones in the list, the Samsung Galaxy A04e and A14 4G secured the remaining two places. Their affordability drove sales in emerging markets like Brazil, India, Mexico and Indonesia.
English (US) ·