New Delhi, May 3 : The global smartphone market grew by 6 per cent (year-on-year) to reach 296.9 million unit shipments in the first quarter this year, as Samsung dethroned Apple to become the top player globally, garnering 20 per cent shipment share, a report showed on Friday.

The growth is mostly attributed to the strong performance in key regions such as Europe, Middle East and Africa (MEA) and Caribbean and Latin America (CALA), according to Counterpoint Research.

'The India market also saw growth thanks to exiting 2023 with healthy inventory levels. The mature markets of North America and Japan declined relative to the same period in 2023,' said senior analyst Prachir Singh.

Apple's shipments declined 13 per cent (YoY) owing to high inventory build-up during the last quarter.

However, the brand's average selling price (ASP) grew 2 per cent YoY, the report noted.

Global smartphone revenues grew by 7 per cent in Q1 2024 and reached the highest-ever in the first quarter of the year.

Among the top five original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), Xiaomi's revenue growth was the fastest due to strong performance in its key markets.

'Tough competition in China, record low upgrades in the US and a difficult compare from last year due to iPhone 14 Pro's supply shifting to Q1 2023 all weighed on iPhone performance,' said research director Jeff Fieldhack.

Samsung re-captured the top spot and led global smartphone shipments during the quarter, driven by the early refresh of the Galaxy-A-series and strong performance of the Galaxy S24 series.

The company reached its highest-ever ASP during the quarter as well.

'More than 10 OEMs have launched over 30 GenAI-capable smartphones so far. We estimate that GenAI's share of overall smartphone shipments will reach 11 per cent in 2024,' said research director Tarun Pathak.

/IANS