Global smartphone shipments totalled 290.3 million units in the second quarter of 2024, reflecting a 9.3% increase year-on-year, according to preliminary data from Omdia.
While this follows an 11.5% increase in the first quarter and an 8.6% increase in the fourth quarter of 2023, compared to the previous corresponding quarter, it represents a 3.2% decline.
Many OEMs recorded double-digit year-on-year growth, including Xiaomi, vivo, Motorola, Realme and Huawei, with Apple and Transsion seeing more moderate growth.
Samsung remains the OEM with the most shipments in the second quarter, with 53.7 million units – a 0.7% increase from the previous corresponding quarter, but an 11.2% fall from the first quarter of 2024 due to seasonality.
Following a fall in the first quarter of the year, Apple recovered to a 5.6% year-on-year growth rate in the second quarter. It recorded 45.6 million-unit shipments, up from 43.2 million in the previous corresponding quarter, but below the 50.7 million shipped in the first quarter.
This second quarter is typically the smallest of the year, so this decline should not be interpreted as Apple struggling. Although Apple’s overall shipments increased year-over-year, shipments in China were found to have decreased compared to the same period last year.
“Recently, the smartphone market has been experiencing accelerated polarisation, with the mid-range market shrinking while the proportion of low-end and high-end markets is increasing. Accordingly, while brands with a high proportion of low-end and high-end smartphones are increasing their shipments, brands with a high proportion of mid-end smartphones are struggling,” Omdia senior research manager for smartphones, Jusy Hong said.
Xiaomi recorded a 27.4% increase year-on-year, up from 33.2 million in the previous corresponding quarter to 42.3 million in the second quarter. This is a marginal 3.7% increase from the previous quarter. Overall, Xiaomi looks to be recovering quickly from a long period of declining market share, capturing 14.1% of shipment share in the first half of 2024.
Vivo rose from sixth to fourth position in the ranking of shipment volume, marking a significant change from the previous quarter. In the second quarter, vivo recorded 26 million shipments, up three million or 13% from the first quarter, placing them ahead of Transsion and Oppo.
Oppo Group recorded 25.2 million shipments in the second quarter, inching up 1% or 0.2 million units from the previous corresponding quarter. Oppo Group’s shipments, which decreased by 5.7% in the first quarter, returned to growth of 1% in the second quarter.
Motorola maintained its strong performance recording 13.5 million units – a 29.2% increase from the previous corresponding period. This continued growth has propelled Motorola up the smartphone OEM shipment rankings from ninth to eighth place, reclaiming this position from Huawei.
Realme shipments increased to 12.3 million in the second quarter. This represents a 21.8% or 2.2 million increase from the 10.1 million recorded in both the first quarter and second quarter of 2023.
Despite a slight drop in the rankings, Huawei remains well positioned for growth. In the second quarter, Huawei shipments totalled 11.7 million units, a fall from the previous quarter. However, this figure represents a significant 58.1% increase compared to the same period last year, it is the highest growth among the top 10 smartphone OEMs.