Apple iPhone Sales Surge

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Mar 12, 6:45AM EDT

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After months of concern about iPhone sales and their potential effects on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL | AAPL Price Prediction) financial results, a new study shows that the iPhone is the dominant smartphone worldwide. In the fourth quarter of 2023, smartphone shipments rose 12.1% year over year to 337 million units, breaking eight consecutive quarters of declines, according to research firm TrendForce.

The iPhone sales numbers were impressive because its shipments outpaced its competitors by a staggering amount. Its production in the quarter rose at a rate five times that of any of its rivals. The report’s authors commented, “Apple stole the show in Q4 with a staggering 58.6% production surge—thanks to the buzz around its iPhone 15 series—cementing its lead with roughly 78.5 million units produced.” Apple’s share of the global market hit 23.3%. (Here are five reasons to avoid Apple products today.)

Investors have sold down Apple stock after years of sharp improvements. The shares are down 10% this year, while the Nasdaq is 7% higher. However, over the past five years, Apple stock has risen 271%, while the Nasdaq’s improvement is 108%.

Apple stock was most recently hit by a report that iPhone sales in China dropped 24% in the first six weeks of 2024. China is by far the world’s largest smartphone market.

Apple’s investors have a challenge. Depending on the research source, iPhone sales could be doing well or very poorly.

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.