Smartphone Shipments Grow 6.4% in 2024, Chinese Vendors Gain Market Share: Report

About 332 million smartphones were shipped globally in the fourth quarter of 2024, marking a 2.4% year-over-year increase. This preliminary data is from IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker report, issued by International Data Corporation. It was the sixth consecutive quarter of growth, IDC said.
Annually, growth in smartphone shipments was robust in 2024. After two consecutive years of decline, shipments increased positively by 6.4% to 1.24 billion units.
“The strong growth witnessed in 2024 proves the resilience of the smartphone market as it occurred despite lingering macro challenges, forex concerns in emerging markets, ongoing inflation, and lukewarm demand,” said IDC’s Senior Research Director for Worldwide Client Devices Nabila Popal in an announcement this week.
Popal credited smartphone vendors with fine-tuning their strategies to drive that growth. They ran promotions, launched devices in multiple price categories, offered interest-free financing plans, and marketed aggressive trade-ins — notably in China and emerging markets.
Apple and Samsung were first- and second-place leaders, respectively, in smartphone shipments in both the fourth quarter and in 2024. Both companies, however, experienced year-over-year declines and loss of share “thanks to the super-aggressive growth of Chinese vendors this year,” IDC wrote in its announcement. Those vendors were focused on low-end devices and rapid growth in China.
Xiaomi was third in both the fourth quarter and the year; Transsion was fourth, but tied with Vivo for the fourth quarter and with OPPO for the year.
The IDC analysts expect growth in smartphone shipments to continue in 2025, but at a slower pace.
Anthony Scarsella, research director for Client Devices, IDC, explained that due to little consumer interest in foldable phones, vendors are shifting their R&D in other directions — namely, AI advancements.
“… AI is increasingly featured on more devices, particularly at the market’s upper echelon thanks to GenAI,” Scarsella said.