Samsung sold almost 3 billion phones since 2014

Hate it or love it, the fact is that Samsung rules, and it's one of the industry's major players. For almost twenty years now, if you say (smart)"phone", you'll evoke a picture of a Galaxy handset in people's minds.

Sure, the younger generation is obsessed with the iPhone. Sure, there are sworn Google/Xiaomi/Motorola fans out there.

But… Samsung consistently held the top spot in smartphone shipments for over a decade, outperforming giants like Apple. Recent research reveals that in the past ten years, Samsung shipped nearly three billion smartphones, a staggering figure that highlights the Korean tech giant's dominance.

Samsung's impressive performance eclipses the combined shipments of Xiaomi, Vivo, and Huawei for the last period.

According to IDC data compiled by AltIndex, Samsung shipped 2.93 billion smartphones from Q1 2014 to Q1 2024. This makes Samsung the most prolific smartphone maker by far, with Apple trailing by about 700 million shipments.

Apple, the second-largest smartphone maker by shipments over the last decade, recorded 2.2 billion iPhone shipments.

Samsung's worst (and best) year

Despite a 10% drop in its market share over the last decade, Samsung still outpaced Apple every year. Even with Apple increasing its market share by 2%, it couldn't surpass Samsung. Samsung's worst year in the past decade was 2022, with 258.2 million smartphones shipped, while Apple shipped 225.3 million that year.

Samsung's best year was 2015, with the launch of the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy Note 5, reaching 320.9 million shipments compared to Apple's 231.5 million. In recent years, 2023 was particularly strong for Samsung, with shipments increasing to 286.6 million, surpassing its performance from 2020 to 2022.

The company seems to have entered a new era of mobile technology, focusing on optimization, build quality, and the introduction of Galaxy AI. This new direction debuted with the Galaxy S24 flagship series, which has set early Q1 sales records in numerous markets.

In Q1 2024, Samsung outperformed Apple by 10 million shipments, reaching 60.1 million.

As Samsung continues to innovate and dominate the smartphone market, one thing is clear: Apple might need more than just a bite to catch up.