Samsung clinched the top spot in the smartphone market from Apple in the first quarter of 2024, preliminary data from research firm IDC revealed on Monday. Global smartphone shipments increased 7.8% year over year to 289.4 million units in the first quarter of 2024, IDC said. In the last quarter, Samsung sold 60.1 million smartphones and Apple 50.1 million of its iPhones, IDC estimated. That brings the market shares of the two biggest companies to 20.8% and 17.3%. “As expected, smartphone recovery continues to move forward with market optimism slowly building among the top brands,” Ryan Reith,…