Two new pieces of research reveal that Apple's iPhone 14 Pro helped the company dominate the premium smartphone segment in 2022, as Apple captured 23% of all sales in the final three months of the year.
First up, new insight from Counterpoint reveals that for the first time ever, more than half of global smartphones sold last year were premium devices worth more than $600.
"Among OEMs, sales for Apple grew 6% YoY in the premium market, expanding its share to capture three-fourths of the total sales in the segment," the report says. "Apple could have grown more if not for the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max supply disruption during the peak holiday season in 2022. Apple also gained from Huawei’s decline in China."
According to Counterpoint, Apple dominated the premium segment with 75% of the sales, up from 71% the year before, despite its supply difficulties with its best iPhone. That came at the expense of rival Samsung, as with Huawei and Mi also seeing substantial drops in the sector.
iPhone 14 Pro closes out the year
A closer look at Q4 from the same outlet reveals that Apple captured 23% of smartphone shipments in Q4 of 2022, supplanting Samsung, which only captured 15%.
Apple was one of only two brands to see its quarter-on-quarter shipments grow alongside OPPO, with Apple's shipments popping by a whopping 42%. Apple's dominance is stronger in North America, where it accounted for 57% of shipments, and in Asia. these are the only two markets where Apple leads, falling behind in Europe and LATAM.
Apple will be hoping for another strong holiday quarter thanks to its iPhone 15, tipped for a launch in the usual September window. It's looking like a substantial upgrade thanks to the Dynamic Island filtering down to the regular models. However, the iPhone 15 Pro is likely to steal the show again, with rumored upgrades including an A17 Bionic chip and a big design change. USB-C is also expected to debut across the lineup for the first time.
