Xiaomi, OPPO, Vivo, and other smartphone brands.

 According to a report from Counterpoint Research, the global smartphone market was down by eight per cent in the third quarter of 2023 compared to the same time last year.

The report says this year has been pretty pants for all smartphone brands, however, thanks to higher profitability, Samsung was in a better position than most smartphone brands. Samsung captured a 20 per cent share of the global smartphone market in Q3 2023, but it experienced 13 per cent lower shipments than the previous year.

During the quarter, Samsung launched its fifth-generation foldable phones, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and the Galaxy Z Fold 5, and managed to improve sales of the Z Flip device compared to its predecessor, thanks to a bigger cover screen and improved performance. The Galaxy Z Fold 5 had mixed results as it didn't bring any major improvement.

Apple was the second biggest smartphone brand in Q3 2023, but its shipments dropped by nine per cent compared to the previous year. According to the report, Apple had a 16 per cent market share in the year's third quarter.

Xiaomi, with a 12 per cent market share, ranked third globally. Its smartphone shipments slid by 15 per cent compared to the previous year. OPPO and Vivo each had an eight per cent global smartphone market share. While Vivo's phone shipments dropped by 14 per cent, OPPO's shipments dropped by 15 per cent compared to Q3 2022. Huawei, Honor, and Tecno (Transsion) are the only smartphone brands that saw their shipments improve year-on-year.

Analysts expect the smartphone demand to rebound by the fourth quarter of 2023 or early next year. That timeline will line up with the launch of the Galaxy S24 series, which is expected to bring huge improvements to display, performance, and software. Samsung has hinted that we could see a lot of Generative AI features with the Galaxy S24 series.