New insight tells different story of Samsung-Apple rivalry in Q3

While Canalys data showed that Samsung and Apple each had 18% of the global smartphone market in Q3 2024, Counterpoint Research data suggests that Apple hasn't narrowed the gap between it and the market leader, Samsung, all that much. More so, Samsung's market share barely declined year-on-year.

The smartphone market is in recovery

Things appear about the same as they were a year ago. Samsung lost less than 1% market share and Apple gained nearly 1%, but there was still a considerable gap between the two market leaders.

Thankfully, the global smartphone sell-through improved by 2% year-on-year, indicating that the market is in recovery. At least it seems like different analysts agree on this point.

For the most part, global shipments increased year-on-year thanks to higher demand in Latin America, Western Europe, and Japan.

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As for other OEMs, Xiaomi reportedly held a 14% share, while Oppo and Vivo each captured 9% of the global market. These figures match the report from yesterday.

Market watchers at Counterpoint Research say Samsung maintained the lead for a couple of reasons, including the success of the Galaxy A series and the improved market performance of the Galaxy S24 flagship lineup.

On the flip side — no pun intended — Samsung's foldable phones haven't had the best reception this year.