Only Samsung gained quarterly market share in Q1, doing what even Apple couldn’t

Samsung maintained the lead over the smartphone market in the first quarter of the year, and impressively enough, it was the only OEM in the top-5 to experience a market share increase quarter-on-quarter. Others, including Apple, lost market share on-quarter, but Samsung prevailed, partly thanks to its newest flagship phones.

Market data from TrendForce shows that Samsung led the smartphone market in Q1 2023 with a 24.6% share. Its share on-quarter increased by 5.5% but declined 16.7% year-on-year.

Apple was the 2nd-largest OEM in Q1, holding a market share of 21.3%. Its quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year share dropped by 27.5% and 11.9%, respectively. The two tech giants were followed by Oppo (10.7% market share), Xiaomi (10.6%), and Vivo (8.0%).

Against the odds, the Galaxy S23 series came to Samsung's rescue

It's key to note that every major smartphone OEM suffered setbacks in Q1 2023 due to the global economic downturn. It's not just Samsung that has lost yearly market share, but all others. In fact, Samsung performed admirably if we look at the previous two quarters side-by-side.

As far as the global market is concerned, TrendForce estimates that the global production volume of smartphones in the first quarter of the year consisted of only 250 million units. This is the lowest quarterly production since 2014, and all OEMs combined manufactured 19.5% fewer phones compared to a year ago.

Samsung reached 61.5 million shipments and was the only OEM to gain market share on-quarter, and in large part, it's thanks to the launch of the Galaxy S23 series. TrendForce says the Galaxy S23 helped the company during the first three months of 2023 but predicts smartphone production in Q2 will weaken by nearly 10% as demand for newer models declines.

Whether things will get better or continue to degrade in Q3 2023 remains to be seen. Samsung is expected to unveil two new foldable phones in late July, the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5, but time will tell if they'll help the company solidify its market position. Samsung may also release a new Fan Edition phone in Q3, but only in select markets.