Global smartphone shipments grew by 4% in Q3 2024, Samsung is still at the top

IDC has released details regarding smartphone shipments in Q3 this year, so for the period between July and September, including both of those months. It seems like the global smartphone shipments grew by 4% in Q3 2024.

The global smartphone shipments grew by 4% in Q3 2024

316.1 million smartphones were shipped in the third quarter of the year, according to IDC. This marks the fifth consecutive quarter of smartphone shipment growth, which is good to see.

“Led by strong growth from Chinese vendors like vivo, OPPO, Xiaomi, Lenovo and Huawei, the smartphone market shows resilience despite global economic headwinds”, said Will Wong, senior research manager for AP Client Devices.

Samsung shipped the most devices, but Apple is not far behind

Samsung is still at the top of the food chain, but barely. The company managed to ship out 57.8 million smartphones in the third quarter, compared to 56 million that Apple shipped out. Xiaomi shipped 42.8 million phones, followed by OPPO with 28.8 million, and Vivo with 27 million. All the other smartphone OEMs shipped out 103.7 million phones.

With that being said, Samsung is now holding 18.3% of the market, based on the Q3 shipments alone, of course. Apple follows with 17.7%, while Xiaomi has 13.5% of the market. OPPO grabbed 9.1%, while OPPO has 8.5%. That leaves 32.8% for all other companies.

Out of the top 5 companies mentioned here, only Samsung’s shipments didn’t grow YoY (Year-over-Year). The company has seen a 2.8% decrease in shipments.

Vivo had the fastest growth rate, by far

Apple’s shipments grew by 3.5%, while Xiaomi’s grew by 3.3%. OPPO managed to set a 5.9% growth YoY; while Vivo trumped all of them. Vivo’s shipments grew by 22.8% compared to the same period last year.

These are all very interesting numbers. It remains to be seen what will happen in Q4, though. Vivo just announced its new high-end smartphones yesterday, while OPPO’s are coming later this month. Samsung will announce its new foldable smartphone this year, though its availability will be limited. Xiaomi also has to announce its new high-end devices. Samsung could yet lose the top spot (to Apple) by the end of the year, we’ll see.