iPhone 17 Pushes Apple Past Samsung for the Top Spot in 2025 Phone Shipments
Counterpoint's full-year data puts Apple at about 20% of global smartphone shipments, edging Samsung's 19% for the first time in over a decade.
Key takeaways
- Apple led 2025 global smartphone shipments with about 20% share versus Samsung's 19%, per Counterpoint.
- Apple's shipments grew about 10% year on year, the strongest of the top brands, on iPhone 17 demand.
- IDC had forecast 247.4 million iPhones shipped in 2025; that was a December forecast, not a final count.
Apple ended 2025 as the world's top smartphone brand. Counterpoint Research's full-year numbers, reported in mid-January, show Apple at roughly 20% of global shipments against Samsung's 19%, with the iPhone 17 family doing the heavy lifting.
The numbers
Global smartphone shipments totalled about 1.2 billion units in 2025. Apple grew around 10% year on year, the fastest among the top brands, which carried it past Samsung into first place. Samsung finished second with growth driven largely by its budget-focused Galaxy A line, and Xiaomi held third. SlashGear's summary of the Counterpoint release also credits strong iPhone 16 sales in Japan, India and Southeast Asia, a reminder that the older model carried part of Apple's volume while the iPhone 17 ramped.
The gap is narrow, one percentage point, so treat the headline as a tie that tipped, not a rout. Shipments are also not the same as consumer sales: they count units sent to carriers and retailers, not units sold through. IDC's earlier December projection of 247.4 million iPhone shipments for 2025 was labelled a forecast at the time, and it is a different methodology from Counterpoint's share figures.
Why iPhone 17 did it
Apple's September 2025 refresh changed several things at once. The base iPhone 17 got a 120Hz ProMotion display, a feature previously reserved for Pro models. The Pro started at 256GB instead of 128GB, with its starting price rising from $999 to $1,099, and the Pro Max gained a 2TB option. The ultra-thin iPhone Air took a new slot between the base model and the Pros. Prices in the US started at $799 for the iPhone 17, $999 for the Air, $1,099 for the Pro and $1,199 for the Pro Max.
How to read a one-point lead
A one-percentage-point gap on roughly 1.2 billion units is on the order of twelve million phones. That sounds large until you compare it with the swings in quarterly shipments, which routinely move several points when a new model launches or a competitor clears inventory. The fair reading is that Apple and Samsung are now effectively level at the top of the market, and that Apple's strong year-end gave it the momentum to finish ahead.
The composition of the two companies' volumes is different. Apple sells a narrow range of high-priced phones, so its revenue share is far larger than its unit share. Samsung sells across the price spectrum, from entry-level Galaxy A phones to foldables, and its unit count leans heavily on those budget models. SlashGear's summary of the Counterpoint release points to exactly that: Samsung's momentum came largely from the A-series. Apple winning on units while selling much more expensive devices is the more notable fact.
The iPhone 17 cycle also showed how much one design change can matter. Putting a high-refresh-rate display into the standard model removed one of the main reasons to step up to a Pro. That tends to raise volume, because more of the line-up looks attractive. It also leaves Apple with fewer obvious features to hold back for next year, which is part of why attention has shifted to the foldable.
Rankings also depend on the research firm. Counterpoint, IDC and others count differently, and their year-end tables rarely match to the decimal. The direction is consistent, though: Apple grew faster than the market in 2025, and the iPhone 17 series was the main driver.
What to watch
- Whether Apple's lead survives 2026 now that Samsung has the Galaxy S26 and a stronger foldable range.
- How the iPhone Air performs; the thin model's volume has not been broken out in the sources above.
- Apple's foldable, expected later this year, which analysts say will be supply-constrained.
- Final audited-style totals from Counterpoint and IDC, which may revise the one-point gap.
Sources
- Apple just dethroned Samsung for world's best-selling smartphones — SlashGear
- Apple tops global smartphone shipments in 2025, surpasses Samsung — Free Press Journal
- iPhone 17 will boost Apple shipments to record high in 2025, IDC projects — TMTPost
- iPhone 17, iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max prices and plans — Android Authority
