Seoul, South Korea is a city of many colors, many styles, and many flavors. And seemingly everywhere you turn in Seoul, you'll see Samsung, a company that does, well, many things. It makes semiconductors and TVs, cargo ships, and refrigerators. They even sell insurance. But they're best known for producing one of the most dominant lines of smartphones in the world, right up there next to Apple.
A 15-hour flight is a good chance to talk through some numbers. According to Counterpoint Research, global smartphone revenue hit $409 billion in 2022, down from $450 billion in 2021. In Q1 2023, Samsung controlled 22% of the market-- a virtual tie with Apple's 21%. In the US, Apple dominates with 57% of the market. Samsung, according to Statcounter, has just 27%. But in South Korea, it's a different story.
We're going to take a bus now over to Samsung's Digital City. It's basically a massive campus. I mean calling it a city is the right thing. Let's go.I've been to Google's campus, huge Apple's campus, huge. This is right up there with both of those. So I'm here at the tour of Samsung's facilities. We're going to go get a deeper look at some of their R&D stuff. And you can see these huge buildings behind me. These are all Samsung buildings.
But as you might expect, manufacturing something like this is a bit more complicated than your standard candy bar style smartphone. On a separate floor, an assembly line of yellow Samsung-branded arms put together the company's Galaxy S23, while another line builds the Galaxy Z Fold 5. But what I mostly saw inside the factory was Samsung's massive commitment to foldable phones as its future. And that dedication was even more apparent during the company's unpack event.