- Samsung and Apple continued to dominate the top 10 list in Q2 2024 with nine spots.
- Xiaomi cracked the two-quarter complete domination by Apple-Samsung by securing the eighth spot.
- The iPhone 15 series saw a 4% increase in sales in Q2 2024 compared to its predecessor during the same period last year, reflecting growing consumer appetite for current-year iPhones.
- Earlier S24 series launch shifted some of its sales to Q1, but Samsung still managed to increase its overall unit sales in the top 10.
Apple and Samsung continued to dominate the top-10 best-selling smartphones list in Q2 2024, together capturing nine spots, according to Counterpoint Research’s Global Monthly Handset Model Sales Tracker. However, this was down one spot from last year’s second quarter when the two brands had captured all 10 spots. Samsung gave up one spot to Xiaomi, which made a comeback to the list after two consecutive quarters of Apple and Samsung’s dominance. Apple retained the number of spots on the list with its four iPhone models. However, the placement of iPhones on the list weakened. While the iPhone 14 series and iPhone 13 had captured all the top four spots in Q2 2023, the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Pro Max and iPhone 15 Pro took the top three spots respectively this quarter. The iPhone 14 could only manage the sixth spot.
Apple’s contribution to the top 10 in terms of total sales volume and sales share declined YoY in Q2 2024. However, the Pro series’ sales volume and share grew, demonstrating, together with a fall in the ranking of the older-generation iPhone, a shift of demand towards higher-end smartphones.
While a slight decline in the position held by Samsung’s Galaxy S24 Ultra to No. 9 in Q2 2024 when compared with the S23 Ultra’s No. 8 position in Q2 2023, may seem to contradict the premiumization trend, a relatively early launch of the flagship this year, which shifted some of the sales to Q1, played a role. The top Samsung smartphone on the list this quarter was the Galaxy A15 5G, followed by the phone’s 4G version. Offering efficient multitasking capabilities, the A15 series is popular in the lower end of the mid-tier segment. The other two Samsung models on the list also belonged to its A series. The Galaxy A55 5G, which is priced at the higher end of the mid-tier segment and comes with some interesting security features, took the seventh spot. The Galaxy A05, another lower-end model, captured the 10th spot.
Xiaomi was the only other brand with an entry in the list, with its Redmi 13C 4G taking the eighth spot. Its predecessor, the Redmi 12C, had also made it to the top 10. With the Redmi smartphones’ availability expanding beyond their traditional strongholds in Asia, Middle East and Africa (MEA) and the Caribbean and Latin America (CALA), the Redmi C smartphones are an upgrade over the lower-end A series models, which used to be Redmi’s usual entries on the list.
Looking at the bigger picture, the number of premium phones in the top 10 in Q2 2024 was five, the same as in Q2 2023, but their cumulative sales as a share of the global smartphone market fell by about 1.5%. The earlier launch of the S24 Ultra and the difficulties the iPhone 15 series had been facing in China contributed to this decline, which does not reflect a broader trend. Moreover, a large part of the Chinese market lost by Apple has gone to Huawei’s premium phones. As the number of GenAI smartphones increases through the year, particularly with the launch of the iPhone 16 series, we expect to see the continuation of a sustained long-term trend towards premiumization.
