The Zhitong Finance App learned that on May 7, according to the latest Omdia preliminary shipment survey, global smartphone shipments in the first quarter of 2024 totaled 304 million units. This is an 11.6% increase compared to the first quarter of 2023, marking the second consecutive quarter of year-on-year growth after experiencing long-term market stagnation and decline from the second quarter of 2021 to the fourth quarter of 2023.

The increase in overall smartphone shipments shows that the industry is stabilizing after a period of turbulence: the industry experienced strong smartphone demand from the fourth quarter of 2020 to the third quarter of 2021, followed by complex supply chain issues in 2022. In the first quarter of this year, many brands, including Honor, Motorola, and Realme, achieved double-digit year-on-year growth, while Voice and Huawei achieved three-digit growth. However, both Apple (AAPL.US) and OPPO experienced year-on-year declines.

Samsung shipped 60.4 million units in the first quarter of 2024, ranking first in the world. With the launch of the latest S24 series flagship phones, including Galaxy AI features, there was a 13.5% month-on-month increase compared to the fourth quarter of 2023. However, compared to the first quarter of 2023 and the launch of S23, the year-on-year increase was only 0.2%. Demand for low- and mid-range smartphones, which account for a large portion of Samsung's total smartphone shipments, is recovering, but overall shipments remain at a level similar to last year due to increased competition with Chinese companies.

Following the release of the iPhone 15 series, Apple's shipments surged in the fourth quarter of 2023, but Apple's total shipments in the first quarter of 2024 have dropped to 50.7 million units, a decrease compared to the previous year. The decrease was due to delays in production and delivery from the fourth quarter of 2022 to the first quarter of 2023, resulting in a higher than usual total shipment base. Given Apple's successful performance in the fourth quarter of 2023, the decline in the first quarter of 2024 should not be surprising or worrying.

“China is an important market for Apple, ranking second only to the US in terms of shipment volume. However, since the second half of last year, Apple has faced fierce competition from Huawei in the high-end market in the local Chinese market, which led to disappointing iPhone shipments in the first quarter. Apple's performance in the Chinese market will be an important factor in determining its overall shipments this year.” Jusy Hong, senior smartphone manager for consumer electronics research at Omdia, said.

Shipments of 688036.SH declined slightly after several consecutive quarters of growth, falling 8.6% from 30.1 million units in the fourth quarter of 2023 to 27.5 million units in the first quarter of 2024. However, after experiencing a period of very strong growth, this is only a slight decline. Compared with a year ago, Transom's shipments are still growing in three digits. In the first quarter of 2023, Transom's shipments were 13 million. Voice's shipments have more than doubled in the past year, increasing its shipment volume from sixth to fourth in the world. It has already surpassed Vivo and OPPO and is currently leading by around 2.5 million units per quarter.

Zaker Li (Zaker Li), chief analyst at Omdia Consumer Electronics Research, said, “The increase in low-end smartphone shipments contributed mainly to Transom's growth in 2023, but since the demand price index of its key markets and user groups is highly flexible, demand fluctuates greatly depending on local economic conditions, so we need to carefully monitor the key economic indicators of the relevant markets. Whether demand in the low-end market can continue to recover depends on the resilience of the economy.”

Oppo (including OnePlus) shipped 25 million in the first quarter of 2024, up 2.5% from the previous quarter, but down 5.7% from the first quarter of 2023. Faced with a fierce market competition environment, OPPO continued to contend with the declining market size throughout 2023. In 2024, with Voice's further lead, OPPO's 2024 global shipping ranking pressure doubled.

Vivo's shipments began to recover after experiencing a sharp decline from the first quarter of 2022 to the fourth quarter of 2023. In the first quarter of 2024, vivo smartphone shipments were 23 million units, up from 21.4 million units last year, an increase of 7.5%. Although there is a decrease of 1 million units compared to the previous quarter, which was 24 million units in the fourth quarter of 2023, the fourth quarter is expected to be generally the biggest quarter.

Honor is still the 7th largest smartphone company in the world, and it continues to grow and expand. In the first quarter of 2024, Honor shipped 16.5 million units, a significant increase of 47.3% over 11.2 million units in the first quarter of 2023. This trend represents a continuous peak of quarterly month-on-month growth in 2023, which continued in the first quarter of 2024, with shipments increasing by 500,000 from 16 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. Although Honor faced challenges from Huawei in the Chinese domestic market, the increase in overseas sales led to an increase in overall shipments.

Global shipments of Huawei smartphones rose from ninth to eighth, and it launched the Mate 60 Pro in the second half of 2023 and built a strong momentum. Like Honor, Huawei achieved continuous quarter-on-quarter growth throughout 2023, from 6.4 million units in the first quarter of 2023 to 12.3 million units in the fourth quarter of 2023. Now, in the first quarter of 2024, it reached 13.1 million units, which means that its shipments have doubled year over year.

Realme dropped from 8th place to 10th place in 2023. The company's shipments in the first quarter of 2024 increased again year-on-year, to 10.1 million units, up from 8.2 million units in the first quarter of 2023. Although Realme's shipments fell from the previous quarter, down 16.5% from 12.1 million units in the fourth quarter of 2023, the brand experienced a more severe decline than any other major smartphone brand throughout 2023. Realme is facing an uphill battle, especially as demand for low-end smartphones falls.

“The most obvious trend in the smartphone market is that demand is polarizing towards low-end and high-end smartphones. This has made Apple and Huawei, which focus on the high-end market, profitable, while brands that focus on mid-range phones, such as Samsung, Oppo, and Realme, face challenges. As we enter 2024, the global market is expected to grow year over year, particularly in the first half of the year. However, as these trends continue, it will determine which smartphone companies benefit the most from this growth.” Hong concluded.