Apple Loses to Android as Smartphone Market Recovers

New research shows the smartphone market recovering in 2024 following two years of sharp declines.

However, Apple’s iPhone played just a small part in that recovery compared to rival Android phones, data released Tuesday (Nov. 26) by IDC shows.

Global smartphone shipments for the year are projected to increase 6.2% to 1.24 billion units, IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker shows. It’s a trend driven by “pent-up demand for device upgrades,” the research group said in a news release.

And while this year marked a robust recovery for the smartphone space, IDC expects growth to slow to single digits from next year and beyond, due to increasing smartphone penetration, longer refresh cycles, and a fast-growing market for used phones.

“While GenAI continues to be a hot topic and top priority for many vendors, it is yet to impact demand significantly and drive early upgrades,” said Nabila Popal, senior research director with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.

“While we continue to believe GenAI will revolutionize the user experience in the years to come, more investments are needed to increase consumer awareness and introduce a ‘must have’ feature that will rush consumers to the store and create that super cycle which everyone is waiting for.”

For now, added Popal, IDC anticipates that smartphones using generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) will “take their place in premium flagship devices” and become 70% of the smartphone market by 2028.

According to the report, Android phones saw rapid growth of 7.6% this year in Asia (excluding Japan and China), Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, especially in lower-end devices. This growth was crucial to the overall 6.2% increase. By comparison, Apple’s iOS phones are expected to climb just 0.4% for the year.

“Despite record breaking performance in emerging markets like India, Apple faces challenges in large markets like China, US and Europe,” the report said. “Looking ahead to 2025, the tides will turn as iOS is expected to grow by 3.1% year-over-year, outpacing Android’s forecasted 1.7% growth over the same period.”

PYMNTS examined the race among smartphone makers to entice consumers using AI earlier this month.

“One good thing about AI-powered apps is their ability to create personalized experiences,” Dmytro Tymoshenko, the CEO of Noiz, which creates AI-powered summaries of YouTube videos, told PYMNTS. “AI is able to analyze data at a very high speed, which allows it to, for instance, recommend content based on user preferences quite fast.”