San Francisco, Apr 15 (IANS): Samsung clinched the top spot in the smartphone market from Apple in the first quarter (Q1) of 2024, preliminary data from global research firm IDC said on Monday.

Global smartphone shipments increased 7.8 per cent (year-over-year) to 289.4 million units in the first quarter of 2024, according to the IDC, reports DPA news agency.

“While the industry is not completely out of the woods, as macroeconomic challenges remain in many markets, this marks the third consecutive quarter of shipment growth, a strong indicator that a recovery is well underway,” the report mentioned.

In the last quarter, Samsung sold 60.1 million smartphones and Apple 50.1 million of its iPhones.

That brings the market shares of the two biggest companies to 20.8 per cent and 17.3 per cent.

"As expected, smartphone recovery continues to move forward with market optimism slowly building among the top brands," Ryan Reith, group vice president with IDC's Worldwide Mobility and Consumer Device Trackers, said.

"While Apple managed to capture the top spot at the end of 2023, Samsung successfully reasserted itself as the leading smartphone provider in the first quarter," he said.

China's Xiaomi, Transsion and OPPO rounded out the top five companies.

"The smartphone market is emerging from the turbulence of the last two years both stronger and changed," said Nabila Popal, research director with IDC's Worldwide Tracker team.

"Xiaomi is coming back strong from the large declines experienced over the past two years and Transsion is becoming a stable presence in the Top 5 with aggressive growth in international markets," Popal said.

"In contrast, while the Top 2 players both saw negative growth in the first quarter, it seems Samsung is in a stronger position overall than they were in recent quarters."