Apple Holds on to US Smartphone Market Share in Face of Weakening Demand

While the US smartphone shipments have declined 8% year over year, Apple’s iPhone has held on to a steady 52% of the market, according to a report from Counterpoint Research.

As well as the 8% drop between Q1 2023 and Q1 2024, the US smartphone market has now declined for six consecutive quarters. One of the reasons for the lastest quarter’s decline is that there was a significant sales difference in the same period in 2023 because of a difficult 2022 holiday season, supply-wise, including the iPhone 14 lineup, which launched in 2022 and was hit by COVID-related production issues.

Counterpoint says most of the 8% decline can be attributed to the above but was also affected by the pressures in the sub-$300 section of the smartphone market, where sales of Android devices suffered.

However, Android device maker Samsung had its best Q1 in years, growing its market share to 31%, thanks to the company’s launch of its Galaxy S24 smartphone series.

Counterpoint analysts say we likely won’t see a recovery in the smartphone market until at least Q3.