While global phone shipments continue to be on a decline from January to March 2023 at -13%, Canalys reports in its Q1 2023 analysis that Samsung was able to reclaim the top spot  and be on the lead with a 22% market share, while Apple comes in at a close second at 21%.

“Samsung’s performance shows early signs of recovery after a tough end to 2022,” Canalys Analyst Runar Bjørhovde said.

The lead of Samsung in Canalys’ Q1 2023 report can be credited to the launch of the Galaxy S23 series, Galaxy A34, and Galaxy A54. It’s also worth noting that sales of the Galaxy S23 series are significantly better than the Galaxy S22 series, and the major driver to this is that Samsung has decided to only use Snapdragon processors this time around.

Apple, on the other hand, was able to be close to Samsung because of its sustained investments in offline challenges, which helped attract the middle class towards an in-store purchasing experience.

Also worth noting in the Canalys report is the mid-range segment, which is starting to recover after a decline last year. While the demand for mid-range phones will be limited “due to the macroeconomic challenges and missing differentiators within this price band,” upcoming mid-range devices are expected to be more competitive with the decreasing component prices and vendors accelerating spec upgrades for mid-range product portfolios–though this trend is not expected to last very long.

Overall, Canalys expects the phone market to regain momentum by the second half of 2023 as channel inventories reach healthier levels.