With the upcoming iPhone 15 series outperforming market expectations, Apple has a good chance of unseating Samsung from its long-held position as the global market leader, a new report has said. According to the market intelligence company TrendForce, in the second quarter (Q2) of 2023, Samsung continued to lead in production rankings, delivering 53.9 million units, while Apple’s second quarter was the weakest in terms of production, delivering 42 million units.
However, Samsung suffered a 12.4 per cent (quarter-on-quarter) downturn, while Apple marked a 21.2 per cent dip from the preceding quarter. Moreover, the report said that global smartphone production has faced back-to-back quarterly declines. "After plunging nearly 20 per cent in 1Q23, second-quarter numbers dwindled further by approximately 6.6 per cent, settling at a modest 272 million units. The first half of 2023 clocked in at a mere 522 million units -- marking a 13.3 per cent (year-on-year) decline and setting a ten-year low for both individual quarters and the first half of the year combined," the researchers said. "Demand in consumer markets such as China, Europe, and North America has not shown a significant rebound as we move into the second half of the year. Even if economic indicators in the Indian market improve, it is still difficult to reverse the global decline in smartphone production," it added.
Further, the researchers predicted that the smartphone market may undergo another shift in Q2 this year due to poor global economic conditions, and production for the second half may consequently be further reduced. Looking ahead to 2024, the current economic outlook is not optimistic, as per the report. The researchers forecasted a 2 to 3 per cent annual increase in global production, depending on regional economic trends.