Apple and Samsung have long been tussling for the top spot in the global smartphone market. On some occasions, the iPhone maker takes the lead while on others, Samsung gets the biggest slice of the pie. With the first quarter of 2023 behind us, Samsung is back at the top, overtaking Apple, but the gap isn’t that wide this time around.

Considering both companies have a fixed annual launch timeline for their top-performing smartphones — Apple in the last and Samsung in the first quarter of the year — their sales graph follows a set trajectory every year. Following the launch of the iPhone 14 and 14 Pro line, Apple saw a solid jump in sales late last year, beating Samsung by a good margin, and now it's Samsung's turn.

With the arrival of the remarkable Galaxy S23 lineup, which makes for some of our favorite Android phones of this year, Samsung has not only managed to narrow the gap but also leave Apple behind, according to a report by Canalys. In fact, Samsung was the only brand among the top three players to have grown over the previous quarter in a market that shrunk by 12% overall, indicating solid sales figures for the recent Galaxy models in global markets.

The South Korean tech giant ended its Q1 2023 with a 22% share of the global smartphone market, followed closely by Apple at 21%. While the demand for the iPhone 14 series has indeed come down slightly over the previous quarter, Apple iPhones still had their best Q1 in three years.

Xiaomi retained its third spot on the list with a flat growth chart in the last quarter, while BBK Electronics brands Oppo and Vivo took the fourth and fifth positions, with a market share of 11%, 10%, and 8%, respectively. The trio has a strong base outside the US, in several key Asian and European markets, especially at the lower end of the price spectrum.

Canalys has reasons to believe that smartphone sales will rebound over the next few quarters, and increased 5G adoption and innovative design (like that of foldables) will be the driving force. We recently saw Oppo make foldables relatively affordable with the Find N2 Flip, while Samsung is also likely to bring some major design changes to its Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Z Fold 5 to make this year's smartphone launches a tad more exciting.