For the first time ever, Apple has claimed the global smartphone crown in the opening quarter of the year, thanks largely to the success of its iPhone 16e, according to data released Monday by a market analysis firm. With a strategic push into emerging markets and a rare off-cycle product launch, the tech giant surged past Samsung in Q1 2025 — a shift in the high-stakes battle for mobile dominance.
Apple sales grew during the period, while those of its chief rival Samsung dropped.
Apple beats all smartphone rivals in Q1 2025
Apple and Samsung battle for supremacy in smartphone sales. But it’s a tight race — the two are usually within a few percentage points of each other. In Q1 2025, iPhone came out on top.
Apple made up 19% of the global phone market in Q1 2025, reports Counterpoint Research. It held that place thanks to a 4% year-over-year increase in sales.
“Helped by the iPhone 16e launch in a non-traditional quarter and continued growth and expansion in its non-core markets, Apple took the #1 spot in Q1 2025, despite the challenges faced in its biggest markets,” said Counterpoint’s analysts. “While sales in the US, Europe and China were either flat or declining, Apple recorded double-digit growth in Japan, India, Middle East and Africa, and Southeast Asia.”
While this is the first Q1 in which iPhone held the top spot in sales, it led the world in shipments both during the fourth quarter of 2024 and for that whole year.
Samsung’s Androids previously led the pack during Q1 in previous years, but Counterpoint says a 5% year-over-year slump in sales made that impossible in 2025. That gave the Korean company 18% of the global market, according to Counterpoint.
A contrary opinion
No company reveals how many smartphones it makes, so it’s up to analysts to estimate the figures. And they don’t often agree. Case in point: rival market analysis firm IDC also released on Monday its estimates for the Q1 2025 global smartphone market, and they put Samsung at the top.
According to this source, Apple shipped 57.9 million units iPhones quarter, a 10% year-over-year increase. That put it at 19% of the Q1 2025 smartphone market. And IDC reports Samsung shipped 60.6 million Androids in the first three months of the year for 19.9% of the market.
Both analysts companies agree that Chinese brands made up the rest of the top five. Xiaomi held 14% of the global market, while Vivo and Oppo each had 8%, according to Counterpoint.
Looking ahead
Counterpoint Research analysts are not optimistic about the global smartphone market during the rest of 2025.
“Smartphones being an essential product will always have a steady sales graph, but economic uncertainties can make consumers postpone their purchases and thus, the rise in trade risks and unsettling of the supply chain can negatively impact on the market going forward,” they said on Monday. “While our long-term outlook remains steady, we believe the market will show a decline in 2025.”
