Apple’s iPhone far exceeds smartphone industry growth

Apple has become the world’s biggest smartphone brand, according to Counterpoint, which reports the company achieved 20% share and 10% YoY shipment growth in 2025.

“Apple’s growth in 2025 was driven by its expanding presence and rising demand across emerging and mid‑size markets, supported by a stronger product mix,” said Senior Analyst Varun Mishra.

“The iPhone 17 series gained significant traction in Q4 following its successful launch, while the iPhone 16 continued to perform exceptionally well in Japan, India and Southeast Asia.”

The new COVID upgrade cycle

The analysts also pointed out the link between Apple’s upgrade cycle now and the COVID bounce. “This dual momentum was further amplified by the COVID‑era upgrade cycle reaching its inflection point, as millions of users were due for replacement.”

(This will be interesting as it suggests a new 3-5 year replacement cycle that needs to be factored into future calculations).

Apple didn’t just lead in terms of share, but also in growth.

The industry experienced 2% growth in the period, compared to Apple’s astonishing 10%. This suggests Apple to be growing at five times the rate of the industry. Samsung grew 5% YoY with 19% market share. It means Apple and Samsung account for the vast majority of industry growth which is driving smaller vendors to try to raise product prices.

5G, tariffs, and soon, component costs

Senior Analyst Shilpi Jain said, “In 2025, the smartphone market continued its gradual shift toward higher price tiers, driven by consumers upgrading to premium devices. Concurrently, demand for 5G handsets rose sharply across developing regions. Tariff-related concerns prompted OEMs to front-load shipments in H1, but as the year advanced, the impact of tariffs proved milder than anticipated, curbing their influence on H2 volumes. For the entire 2025, growth remained uneven across regions. Markets such as Japan, Middle East and Africa (MEA) and certain parts of the Asia-Pacific (APAC) offset the weakness in mature markets.”

This has been the third consecutive year of slow but steady growth for Apple’s market share.

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