To say that Samsung has its fair share of competition – especially in the US phone market – would be an understatement. With homegrown tech giants like Apple and Google dominating the region, South Korean-basedSamsunghas had the odds stacked against it. That being said, this doesn’t mean it hasn’t been able to find success in the global market, and its first-quarter numbers prove it.
Samsung dethrones Apple to become the world’s largest smartphone maker again
Preliminary Q1 2024 smartphone shipments show the Korean giant is again back at the top
Samsunghas publicly released its numbers for the first quarter of 2024, and the company notched its consolidated revenue for the period at about $51 billion. Specifically, Samsung pointed to sales of its Galaxy S24 series for bolstering its numbers. In total, its operating profit rose by approximately $4 billion.
Samsung pivots toward memory devices
In addition to making a positive difference in income with the S24 series, Samsung credited the growing demand for high bandwidth memory and other advanced memory products. As such, the company noted that it will continue manufacturing the demanded components. Generative AI notably requires such memory in order to operate, which could be why demand continues to rise. For example, Samsung is planning to start manufacturing a product based on 1b nanometer 32GB DDR5 this coming quarter. As it shifts its direction toward manufacturing these types of items, Samsung is projecting a positive second quarter.
Generally speaking, it seems that the S24 series is being heavily favored over its predecessor, specifically in the US. According to data from Counterpoint Research, Galaxy S24 salesincreased eight percent compared to the Galaxy S23within the first three weeks of debuting. However, this increase was perhaps most noticeable in the US, where sales rose by 14 percent. Across the pond in the UK, Germany, and France, Galaxy S24 sales jumped 28 percent. While it’s to be determined if Samsung has what it needs to surpass the likes of the iPhone in terms of popularity, these numbers are promising. Other areas the company will focus on in the coming months include automotive/IT and flexible displays, as competition rises in the TV market.
