After 2 years, Global Smartphone Market Recovers Global smartphone sales grew 4 per cent year-on-year in 2024, as consumer sentiment fared better than in previous years following macroeconomic improvements.

The global smartphone market returned to growth in 2024 after two consecutive years of annual declines, according to Counterpoint Research's Market Pulse. Global smartphone sales grew 4 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in 2024, as consumer sentiment fared better than in previous years following macroeconomic improvements. Smartphone sales in 2023 were the lowest in a decade.

Research Director Tarun Pathak said, "The year 2024 was of recovery and normalization after a difficult 2023. Smartphones continue to be an essential product, pivotal to people's daily lives, and as macroeconomic pressures softened, the market started showing signs of recovery from Q4 2023 and has now grown for five consecutive quarters. Almost all markets showed growth, led by Europe, China and Latin America."

Samsung continued to lead the market in 2024, led by strong demand for its S24 series and A-series product lines. Apple, with an 18 per cent share took the second spot. Apple's iPhone 16 series was met with a mixed response, partly due to a lack of availability of Apple Intelligence at launch. However, Apple continued to grow strongly in its non-core markets like Latin America, Africa and Asia-Pacific-Others.

Ivan Lam, senior analyst at Counterpoint Research, added, "iPhone sell-through was down, but consumers are pivoting to Apple's ultra-high end, helping to offset some of the declines. In markets like China, we're seeing sell-through share of Pro series devices ballooning. To illustrate, Pro and Pro Max devices were at mid-forties share in China during Q4 2023, but in Q4 2024, we're likely to see the final numbers tip well over the halfway mark."

Xiaomi grew fastest among the top five brands in 2024, helped by its portfolio realignment, premium push and aggressive expansion activities. OPPO came in fourth, with a YoY decline, but it ended the year with stronger momentum. vivo rounded off the top five, led by strong performance in India and China, where it ended the year as the top-ranked original equipment manufacturer (OEM).

The year 2024 also brought GenAI to smartphones, a potentially revolutionary technology. "While GenAI-capable smartphones remain limited to the premium segment for now, we expect GenAI to become a norm for mid-range devices as well. By 2028, we expect nine out of ten smartphones priced above $250 to be GenAI-capable," the report added.

While smartphone volumes are unlikely to reach the peak levels seen in pre-COVID times, premiumization means that revenues will continue to rise as average selling prices grow. Sales of ultra-premium smartphones, those priced above $1000, grew fastest in 2024 as consumers showed a preference for spending more on their next smartphone. This was enabled by device subsidies in developed markets and the easy availability of low-cost finance in emerging markets. In 2025, we expect revenue growth to continue to outpace volume growth, with revenues growing 8 per cent YoY, compared to 4 per ecnt volume growth.