New Delhi, Jan 13, 2025, IANS

New Delhi, Jan 13 (IANS) The global smartphone market returned to growth in 2024 with 4 per cent increase (year-on-year) in sales after two consecutive years of annual declines, a report showed on Monday. Consumer sentiment fared better than in previous years following macroeconomic improvements. Smartphone sales in 2023 were the lowest in a decade, according to Counterpoint Research. “Smartphones continue to be an essential product, pivotal to people’s daily lives, and as macroeconomic pressures softened, the market started showing signs of recovery from Q4 2023 and has now grown for five consecutive quarters. Almost all markets showed growth, led by Europe, China and Latin America,” said Research Director Tarun Pathak. Samsung continued to lead the market in 2024, led by strong demand for its S24 series and A-series product lines. The S24 series, the first phone positioned as an AI device, outperformed its predecessors and was received especially well in Western Europe and the US, according to the report. Apple, with an 18 per cent share, took the second spot. Apple’s iPhone 16 series was met with a mixed response, partly due to a lack of availability of Apple Intelligence at launch. However, Apple continued to grow strongly in its non-core markets like Latin America, Africa and Asia-Pacific-Others. Xiaomi grew fastest among the top five brands in 2024, helped by its portfolio realignment, premium push and aggressive expansion activities. “OPPO came in fourth, with a YoY decline, but it ended the year with stronger momentum. vivo rounded off the top five, led by strong performance in India and China, where it ended the year as the top-ranked OEM,” said the report. “While GenAI-capable smartphones remain limited to the premium segment for now, we expect GenAI to become a norm for mid-range devices as well. By 2028, we expect nine out of ten smartphones priced above $250 to be GenAI-capable,” the report mentioned. Sales of ultra-premium smartphones, those priced above $1000, grew fastest in 2024 as consumers showed a preference for spending more on their next smartphone. “In 2025, we expect revenue growth to continue to outpace volume growth, with revenues growing 8 per cent YoY, compared to 4 per cent volume growth,” said the report.