Southeast Asia smartphone market slips after five quarters of growth

Apple continued its retail expansion in Asia by revealing it will open its first Apple Store in Malaysia in June.

Global smartphone shipments grew by 3% to 330 million units in the last quarter of 2024, marking a fifth consecutive quarter of growth, but analyst house Canalys noted this was a significant slowdown in growth.

Apple airlifted US$2 billion worth of iPhones from India to the United States last month, in a strategic move to shield against the impact of rising US import tariffs.