The global smartphone market has fallen to its lowest level in a decade, but while Apple's iPhone sales have declined year-on-year, they have not shrunk as much as other major players. Apple has often been a bright spot in reports about the global smartphone market and its continued decline. In a new report from Counterpoint Research, this remains the case for the third quarter of 2023.

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This note stated that global smartphone sales fell by 8% year-on-year, but continued to increase by 2% in the third quarter of 2023. Counterpoint believes that this is the ninth consecutive quarter of year-on-year decline. Behind the decline is "the recovery of consumer demand is slower than expected."


However, analysts were positive about quarter-to-quarter growth, including September's performance "despite a full week of fewer new iPhone sales."

On a per-vendor basis, Apple's share of the smartphone market in the third quarter of 2023 was 16%, down slightly from 17% in the third quarter of 2022. Counterpoint said that although the iPhone 15 series has been well received, "supply is limited."

Samsung ranks first with a 20% share, followed by Xiaomi, OPPO and vivo with 12%, 10% and 8% shares respectively.

Judging from changes in shipments, Apple's year-on-year change in this quarter was a 9% decrease. By comparison, Samsung was down 13%, Xiaomi was down 15%, Oppo was down 10%, Vivo was down 14%, and the "Other" vendor group was down 26% during the period.

After a strong start in September, Counterpoint expects the momentum to continue through the end of the year, "starting with the full impact of the iPhone 15 series." India's festive sales season, China's 11.11 promotions, Western holiday sales, and year-end promotions in all regions may enable the market to "stop the sequential sequential decline" in the fourth quarter.

Even so, Counterpoint expects the market to decline throughout 2023, which will be the "lowest level in a decade." The reason lies in "shifting equipment replacement patterns, especially in developed markets."