IDC: Global smartphone shipments to grow 4% year-on-year in Q3 2024

According to preliminary data from the IDC Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker, global smartphone shipments grew 4% year-over-year to 316.1 million units in the third quarter of 2024. This marked the fifth consecutive quarter of growth in shipments.

Will Wong, senior research manager at AP Client Devices, said: "The smartphone market has shown resilience despite global economic headwinds, led by strong growth from Chinese vendors such as vivo, OPPO, Xiaomi, Lenovo and Huawei. Growth was uneven across vendors - some companies struggled with rising raw material costs, while others benefited from favorable exchange rates in emerging markets such as Southeast Asia. Vivo's performance was particularly noteworthy, thanks to aggressive product launches and a low comparison base."

Nabila Popal, director of global client device research, said: "While growth by Chinese mobile phone manufacturers in emerging markets has been a theme this year, Apple's shipments this quarter increased by 3.5% year-on-year due to strong demand for previous generations of mobile phones and the launch of the new iPhone 16 series. In the third quarter of 2024, older iPhones, especially the iPhone 15, performed exceptionally well due to a large number of promotions and increased marketing activities around Apple smartphones. The launch of Apple smartphones in markets outside the United States is staggered, but Apple will continue to grow in the upcoming holiday season as it expects many customers to upgrade from iPhone 13, iPhone 12 and previous models to new AI-enabled smartphones to keep them in the long term."

Francisco Jeronimo, Vice President, Client Devices, EMEA, said: “Despite a decline in total shipments, Samsung maintained its market leadership. The company continued to grow its share in the premium market as the average price of Galaxy AI smartphones increased during the quarter. Samsung Electronics began to roll out Galaxy AI features on other models and launched the new Galaxy Z Fold6 and Galaxy Z Flip6 equipped with Galaxy AI, achieving better results in the premium market.”