Apple claimed a 17.7 percent share of the market in the second quarter of 2024, an increase from the previous quarter. Apple's long time competitor, Samsung, ranked first with a market share of 18.3 percent. Apple and Samsung continue to dominate the smartphone market Apple has been amongst the top five smartphone vendors in the world since 2009. With the decline of former market leaders Nokia and RIM, Apple and Samsung were able to grow their presence in the market. As a result of political pressure, tariffs and restrictions imposed by the U.S, Chinese manufacturer Huawei has recently dropped off of the top five list in the smartphone market, while Xiaomi, Oppo, and Transsion have gained ground. Coronavirus (COVD-19) pandemic impact on iPhone sales While the long-term impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on sale is difficult to determine, the immediate impact was quickly visible. While large quarterly fluctuations are normal for Apple’s revenue cycle, one must look back to 2017 to find two consecutive quarters in which Apple generated less than 30 billion U.S. dollars in revenue from the iPhone. A less strong performance in the first quarter of 2024, lead by the iPhone 16, gave Apple the second spot in terms of quarterly global unit shipments after Samsung, although strong sales in the fourth quarter of every year is a common occurrence with Apple products.

Apple's iOS continues to hold the largest share of the smartphone operating systems market in the United States, claiming more than half of the market as of March 2024. Apple's share of the U.S. market has risen steadily since early 2012, when it accounted for around 30 percent. This growth is not reflected in all markets, however, with Apple's global share remaining stable year-on-year. Apple growing at home Under CEO Tim Cook, Apple has continued to follow a stunning growth trajectory. Apple became the first U.S. company with a market capitalization exceeding two trillion dollars, just two years on from becoming the first trillion-dollar company. The iPhone, responsible for much of the company’s growth, has cemented its status as the smartphone of choice for many Americans during recent quarters. Google's Android operating system is a close competitor in the U.S. OS market, accounting for around 47 percent of the market as of March 2024. However, Apple commands a far wider lead in the U.S. smartphone manufacturer market, with the Android user base split between various vendors such as Samsung and Motorola. Apple’s popularity across markets Apple has seen success with the iPhone in developed markets across the globe. iPhones accounted for four of the five most-sold handsets in the United Kingdom as of January 2024, and four of the leading five in Germany. Yet, the high price of Apple devices puts Apple at a disadvantage outside of wealthier markets. In Africa, iOS accounted for around 13 percent of the mobile OS market in November 2023, while Android dominated with an 85 percent share.

Apple’s iOS mobile operating system held around 23.2 percent of the global smartphone market share in the fourth quarter of 2024, an increase from the previous quarter but a marginal decrease from the same quarter in the previous year. This is consistent with Apple's distribution pattern in recent years, claiming a strong share of the market during the fourth quarter of the year and shipping devices at a slower rate throughout the remainder of the year.

Android maintained its position as the leading mobile operating system worldwide in the first quarter of 2025 with a market share of about 71.88 percent. Android's closest rival, Apple's iOS, had a market share of approximately 27.65 percent during the same period. The leading mobile operating systems Both unveiled in 2007, Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS have evolved through incremental updates introducing new features and capabilities. The latest version of iOS, iOS 18, was released in September 2024, while the most recent Android iteration, Android 15, was made available in September 2023. A key difference between the two systems concerns hardware - iOS is only available on Apple devices, whereas Android ships with devices from a range of manufacturers such as Samsung, Google and OnePlus. In addition, Apple has had far greater success in bringing its users up to date. As of February 2024, 66 percent of iOS users had iOS 17 installed, while in the same month only 13 percent of Android users ran the latest version. The rise of the smartphone From around 2010, the touchscreen smartphone revolution had a major impact on sales of basic feature phones, as the sales of smartphones increased from 139 million units in 2008 to 1.39 billion units in 2023. In 2020, smartphone sales decreased to 1.38 billion units due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Apple, Samsung, and lately also Xiaomi, were the big winners in this shift towards smartphones, with BlackBerry and Nokia among those unable to capitalize.

This statistic shows the global market share held by Apple with respect to sales of mobile phones to end users from the first quarter of 2009 to the latest quarter. In the fourth quarter of 2012, Apple had a global market share of 9.2 percent of the mobile phone market. This peak coincided with the release of the iPhone 5. During the same period, the iPhone was also Apple's most successful product, with a 46 percent share of total revenues.

In the second quarter of 2024, Apple iOS was one of the main mobile operating systems in Italy. In that quarter, iOS 17.4 was the most popular version of the operating system, occupying over 42 percent of the mobile OS market in the country.  Apple and Samsung at the top of the Italian smartphone market As one of the main segments of the consumer electronics industry in Italy, the smartphone market was forecast to generate a revenue of just under ten billion U.S. dollars in 2024. Apple and Samsung are the leaders of the Italian smartphone market, controlling almost 32 and 30 percent of the market in 2023, respectively. Meanwhile, other vendors have been acquiring larger shares of the industry, including Huawei and Oppo, catering to the needs of an ever-growing number of smartphone users.

Android is the leading mobile OS What makes our smartphones so fast, advanced, and powerful? Their operating systems, namely, the software on which the devices rely that allow users to perform all sorts of actions, including navigating the web and listening to music. Over the decades, Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS have established themselves as the leading mobile operating systems worldwide. Android being an open-source platform, many smartphone vendors have adopted it as their operating system, whereas iOS only works on Apple iPhones. As a result, Android holds a much larger share of the global mobile OS market, over 70 percent, leaving iOS far behind.

As of March 2025, Apple accounted for around 463 percent of the smartphone market in Hong Kong. This is a considerable decrease compared to the same period last year.Apple in the smartphone market in Hong Kong Apple has been the smartphone market leader in Hong Kong for years, maintaining a market share of well over 40 percent. Whenever new iPhone models were launched, there was almost always a boost in sales. For example, iPhone XR’s launch was the reason for Apple’s peak market share at 60 percent in November 2018. This is particularly interesting in comparison to the neighboring Chinese market, which was led by multiple Chinese smartphone manufacturers like Huawei, Oppo and Vivo. Back in 2014, Apple held a market share of roughly the same as Xiaomi, and higher than any other Chinese counterparts. Demographics of smartphone users Hong Kong’s smartphone penetration rate was among one of the highest in the world at 96 percent in 2023. Generally, almost everyone aged 15 to 44 years old in Hong Kong has a smartphone, with the smartphone ownership for women slightly higher than males. Around five percent of people in Hong Kong who owned smartphone sometimes owned two or more smartphones.

The share of Apple iPhone in the Indian mobile phone market reached around 4.1 percent as of June 2024. There was a general growth trend in the market share of iPhone over the observed time frame. In this period, it reached its highest market share in May 2023, at 4.9 percent.

As of March 2025, the Apple iOS 18 represented the majority of Apple devices globally, holding a combined 68.7 percent of all Apple mobile devices globally. Apple's iOS 17 trailed in the second place with around 12.92 percent of Apple mobile devices worldwide. Overall, the statistic indicates that the significant changes in iOS version market shares usually take place around the Apple Event each September when the company unveils its latest iPhone.

As of 2023, for the first time ever, Apple ranked as the market leader in the global smartphone market with a 20.1 percent share of all shipments. The tech giant retained the top title in 2024, with a share of nearly 19 percent of the global smartphone market. Samsung ranked second, holding 18 percent of the market share. Global smartphone market shareSamsung has seen its popularity steadily increase since it held just a 4.3 percent of the smartphone vendor market at the beginning of 2010. Samsung’s share of the overall mobile phone market, has fluctuated in recent times, dropping to under 20 percent in the most recent year. Apple became smartphone market leader based on shipments in 2023. Apple’s smartphone sales are relatively cyclical and peak in the fourth quarter each year. In the fourth quarter of 2024, 23 percent of all smartphones new smartphones sold were iPhones. The iPhone generated considerable revenue for Apple with sales of the device amounting to over 200 billion U.S. dollars in their 2024 financial year.

Between February 2016 and October 2024, the market share of Apple’s mobile operating system iOS has fluctuated. This is part of a larger trend: iOS’ market share has been in decline since 2012, when it peaked at 45 percent before Android took over. Apple’s main competitor In terms of the number of devices, Android was the undisputed market leader: its market share grew steadily in Italy, reaching almost 75 percent in 2019. However, Apple ruled in terms of app sales: its revenues from global app sales were almost twice as large as those of Android. On the Apple App Store, around 58.6 thousand apps cost less than a U.S. dollar. Android’s predominance Android’s predominance in the country was closely tied to the prevalence of Samsung and Huawei smartphones in Italy. Since Google decided to terminate Huawei’s Android license in May 2019, Huawei announced the launch of its operating system, Harmony. The open-source version of Android, however, will still be available for Huawei smartphone users. Being unlikely that the new operating system will take off outside of China, Android seems well-positioned to continue to lead the Italian market.

The iOS operating system has had rather volatile sales in Spain over the observed period. In April 2023, iOS peaked its market share since 2016 at 23.7 percent, then slightly dropped in the most recent month, accounting for 18.7 percent of the Spanish smartphone market in June 2024. Most preferred smartphones Over the last five years, Android has never had a market share below 75 percent in Spain. Thus, it comes as no surprise that in 2024, the preferred smartphone brands in Spain had an Android operating system. Moreover, Xiaomi was the leading mobile phone vendor in Spain, with a market share of nearly 29 percent.. Smartphone usage Over the years, smartphones have become more than just personal communication devices. The increasing number of smartphone brands, as well as the variety of smartphone applications, make these devices almost indispensable in our daily activities. As of December 2023, the most used smartphone apps in Spain were internet browsers, e-mail services, and social media apps.

As of March 2024, Apple's market share of smartphones in Japan amounted to approximately 66 percent. In comparison, Apple's market share of smartphones in Papua New Guinea was the lowest in the region, at around 3.6 percent in the same year.

In July 2024, the total market share of Apple's iOS mobile operating system in the United Kingdom (UK) reached roughly 44 percent, a slight decrease compared to the same month in the previous year. Apple's kingdom With 38 Apple stores In the United Kingdom, Apple remains undisputed in the smartphone and tablet computer markets. Indeed, in 2023, Apple’s iOS accounted for nearly half of both the mobile and tablet operating system market share. Only in the PC market, it is second to its competitor Windows, which recorded a market share of over 67 percent. In addition to iPhones, iPads, and Macs, other electronics consumer goods are part of Apple’s kingdom, such as Apple headphones, smartwatch (Apple Watch), and smart speakers (Apple HomePod). The same can be said about Apple’s AppStore, which offered over 1.64 million apps as of the third quarter of 2022. Smartphones in the UK The penetration rate of smartphones and the number of smartphone users has been growing for quite some time, and Apple and Android have been dominating the smartphone market since the beginning. By 2025, over 60 million UK citizens are forecast to use smartphones. Most consumers seemed to be satisfied with their smartphones brand, and only a small percentage were very likely to purchase a new phone on the next possible occasion. Of course, smartphone manufacturers also come out with new models quite frequently.

As of July 2024, Apple’s iPhone 15 was the most popular smartphone model sold in the United States, accounting for over 17.5 percent of total smartphone sales. The iPhone was the most popular smartphone in the United States at that time, occupying four spots in the top five. Apple and Samsung: two leading competitors Apple and Samsung are the leading smartphone vendors in the United States with a combined market share of almost 80 percent in the second quarter of 2023. The two smartphone vendors dominate the U.S. smartphone market not only in terms of sales, but also when it comes to customer satisfaction: Samsung’s Galaxy line and the Apple iPhones are the highest ranked smartphone models on the American customer satisfaction index. In line with their successes in the United States, Apple and Samsung also lead the global smartphone market, albeit to a lesser degree – the two brands have a combined market share of close to 40 percent. Smartphone penetration the highest in the United States Smartphone sales value in the United States more than doubled in the last decade, making the U.S. one of the major smartphone markets globally. In 2024, over 118 million smartphones were forecast to be sold, with the number of U.S. smartphone users forecast expected to grow in the coming years.

Apple's presence in the European smartphone market has steadily grown between 2019 and 2023. At the beginning of the given period, Apple occupied roughly 20 percent of the smartphone market in Europe, with this share growing to 26 percent by 2023.

Manufacturers’ market share of smartphone sales in the United States is led by Apple and Samsung, with a market share of 52 percent and 24 percent, respectively, as of the second quarter of 2024. Next to Apple and Samsung are Lenovo and HMD, with respective market shares of 12 and one percent.  Global smartphone market While Apple continues to lead the U.S. smartphone market, it has traditionally lagged behind on the global scale. Samsung has been the leading smartphone vendor worldwide since 2012. However, Samsung’s lead in terms of market share has started to dwindle in recent years, meaning that Apple and other Chinese competitors, such as Xiaomi, vivo, and Huawei, have seen a boost in the smartphone industry. Apple’s traction on the global scale in 2020 comes from its move towards 5G-enabled smartphones, which have doubled sales one year, from 2020 to 2021, alone. Apple is currently the leading vendor in terms of global 5G smartphone shipments. The introduction of 5G throughout the world brings with it the possibility to upheave the smartphone market as we know it. Are U.S. consumers satisfied with Apple and Samsung phones? Apple and Samsung not only lead the smartphone market in the United States in terms of usage, but also in terms of customer satisfaction. The highest ranked smartphone models on the American customer satisfaction index are nearly all Samsung Galaxy and Apple iPhone models. Furthermore, it appears that U.S. smartphone users are unlikely to change their primarily used smartphone brand anytime soon.

As of October 2024, Apple held nearly 12 percent of the mobile phone market in Indonesia, marking a slight increase compared to the previous year. Although it trails behind Android competitors such as Oppo, Samsung, Xiaomi, and Vivo, Apple's market share in the country has steadily grown since 2015. Apple in the Indonesian smartphone market Apple’s smartphone market share in Indonesia is among the lowest in the Asia-Pacific region. Android is the most widely used mobile operating system in Indonesia, holding around seven times the market share of iOS. Apple’s strong brand image is commonly associated with premium products, appealing primarily to a limited segment of consumers in Indonesia. With the average wage among Indonesian employees standing at approximately three million Indonesian rupiah, many consumers prefer more affordable options for smartphones. Smartphone usage in Indonesia Mobile internet penetration has surged among the Indonesian population over the past years. Users spend an average of over six hours per day on their mobile devices for work, study, entertainment, and other activities. Consumer spending on mobile apps has increased by millions of dollars each year, reflecting promising market growth. As smartphone usage, internet adoption, and innovation from leading brands continue to increase, the smartphone market in Indonesia is projected to grow steadily in the coming years.

According to DeviceAtlas' data, Apple's iPhone XR was the most popular iPhone model in the United States in the third quarter of 2020, with a 6.85 percent share of the overall smartphone market. The newer model, iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro Max accounted for 5.02 and 2.53 percent of the U.S. market share respectively.

Apple claimed 21.9 percent of the smartphone market by sales to end users in the fourth quarter of 2021, remaining relatively stable compared with the previous quarter.. Apple has experienced relatively cyclical sales, where sales and market share peak in the fourth quarter each year, coinciding with the release of new iPhone models.