The global smartphone market returned to double-digit growth for the first time since the second quarter of 2021. Canalys said the segment recorded 10% growth in the first quarter of 2024, up from 13% in the same period last year. .

While the market as a whole was up, that was not the case for individual phone companies. Year over year, Samsung’s shipments shrank 1%, Apple’s shrank 16%, and Oppo’s shipments shrank 6%. The “winners” were Xiaomi and Transsion which recorded growth of 3% and 86% respectively.

Referring to Xiaomi and Transsion, Canalys said:

“Mass market brands are riding the wave of recovering emerging markets, carefully positioning components. With improved inventory conditions in early 2024, these brands delivered strong performances as they refreshed their portfolios.

Vendors such as Xiaomi and TRANSSION experienced strong year-on-year growth of 33% and 86% respectively, driven by strong shipments of their latest models to the Middle East, Africa and Latin American markets.

It should be noted that, beyond the ongoing stabilization in emerging markets, these brands are increasing production and stockpiling raw materials in anticipation of a further increase in bill of materials (BoM) costs.

These brands will closely monitor the state of demand and look to pass on rising costs to consumers, resulting in a higher overall ASP.”

With the vastly different performance between the phone manufacturers, the market share of each is quite different now compared to last year. Samsung has 20% market share, down from 22%, Apple has 16% market share, down from 21%, Xiaomi is up to 14% from 11%, Transsion is up to 10% from 6%, and -Oppo dropped from 20%. 10% to 8%.

For anyone around the age of 30 or older who remembers when Android and iOS were first introduced, it might be a bit strange to hear that this segment is now considered mature so there isn’t as much growth anymore.

Even so, OEMs are radically changing form factors and now introducing AI chips to perform LLM computing on the device. These changes may be big enough to push people out to the stores to buy new phones sooner than expected.