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.

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.

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.

Apple held the largest slice of the global smartphone market by shipments during the fourth quarter of 2024, followed by Samsung. Xiaomi has taken a tight grip on the third position, accounting for a market share of 13 percent in the fourth quarter of 2024. Samsung and Apple smartphone sales Smartphone vendors have been suffering from the events of the past couple of years, including the pandemic and the economic downturn. However, they all appear to be recovering, as shown by the recent increase in shipments. For instance, mostly based on the main line of Galaxy Series, Samsung's smartphone shipments totaled nearly 223.5 million units globally in 2024. Next to Samsung, Apple is a major manufacturer of smartphones worldwide, with the company shipping more than 228 million iPhones worldwide in 2024. Apple’s sales tend to be very cyclical, peaking in the fourth quarter each year, much like in the fourth quarter of 2023, when they took the first spot in terms of units shipped globally with around 80.5 units. Xiaomi in the lead While Apple and Samsung are typically the two major companies challenging for the top spot, Huawei had provided a strong challenge in recent years. Particularly, the Chinese company managed to climb the smartphone market ladder between 2011 and 2024, recording shipments of over 42 million smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2024. However, strong performances from rivals like Xiaomi and the effects of the U.S. trade ban have since seen Huawei fall outside the list of top five vendors by smartphone shipments.

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.

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.

Android was the unquestioned leader of the mobile operating system (mobile OS) market in 2018, with 88 percent of all devices sold running the Android system.

Mobile OS ecosystem

Smartphone operating systems, often referred to as smartphone OS, are operating systems that operate smartphones, PDAs, tablets and other mobile devices. An operating system allows these devices to run applications and programs, therefore, bringing advanced functions to mobile devices that were previously restricted to desktop computers.

The now-discontinued OS Symbian was the first popular smartphone operating system in the world. With the launch of Ericsson‘s R380 in 2000, Symbian became the first modern mobile OS on a smartphone. By 2009, Symbian accounted for nearly half of the global smartphone operating systems market, while RIM/Blackberry, also a pioneer in this market, held around 20 percent of the share. Despite the early start, both Symbian and RIM have been almost driven out of the market as new operating systems were released. Apple introduced its first iPhone model to the consumer market in 2007, revolutionizing the market. Prior to the launch of Apple’s iPhone in 2007, smartphones were a rather niche product and had not yet attained mass appeal.

As of 2020, Apple's iPhone held the third largest smartphone market share. Since 2011, Apple’s iOS market share has varied between 14 and 21 percent.

In 2023, Android held a nearly 80 percent share of the global smartphone OS market. Android's smartphone sales has been decreasing gradually since 2019, when it held a staggering 87 percent of the market, due to Apple's smartphones' increasing share.

Why is Google’s Android OS dominating the market? One reason for Android’s large market share is that it is an open-source platform, allowing mobile phone manufacturers to use and adapt the operating system for their own devices. Samsung, who run their own customized version of the Android operating system, currently have the largest share of global smartphone sales by vendor. In contrast, Apple’s iOS software is a closed-source platform, meaning they can control the user experience and make it available exclusively on their mobile devices, including the iPhone and iPad. This model has also proved profitable: Apple generated 69.7 billion U.S. dollars in revenue from iPhone sales alone in the first quarter of 2024.

Changing trends in mobile OS market Android and iOS are the leading mobile operating systems today, but back in 2009 the market was much different with Symbian and RIM (Research In Motion) holding close to 70 percent of the sales market share. Symbian operated on Nokia, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson devices, while RIM only functioned on BlackBerry smartphones. Both developers were slow to anticipate the changes within the mobile operating systems’ market and were ultimately left behind by the innovative approach of Apple and Google.

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 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.

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.

Samsung held a 20 percent share of the global smartphone market in the first quarter of 2024. Apple followed closely behind, with an overall share of 17 percent.

The changing face of the smartphone market

The make-up of the smartphone market has changed significantly since 2009. Nokia used to lead the industry with almost 50 percent of the smartphone market share in 2007, and before the arrival of the iPhone, it was hard for consumers to imagine Nokia becoming a market outsider.

Huawei's rise and fall have had a significant impact on the face of the market. Huawei consistently challenged Apple and Samsung for position at the top of the market, even leading it in the second quarter of 2020. Huawei has not appeared in the top five since the second quarter of 2021, largely as a result of trade restrictions.

RIM’s Blackberry devices stand as an example of the effect large-display touchscreen devices had on the market. Blackberry devices sold on a number of strengths, including a well-designed physical QWERTY keyboard and secure enterprise integration. The Blackberry lost its unique value as touchscreen devices improved, leading to a significant decline in revenue. RIM eventually ceased development of the Blackberry in 2016.

In December 2018, the iPhone 7 accounted for nearly 16 percent of all iPhone sales worldwide. Newer models such as the iPhone XS and XS Max, which were released in September of 2018, make up a smaller share of sales, retaining 2.33 and 3.15 percent of the iPhone market share respectively.

Apple iPhone

Apple released the first iPhone in June of 2007, and the product has become a staple of their line of electronics ever since. Twenty-one different models have been released over the product’s life span, with at least one new iPhone hitting the market in every year since 2007. Apple routinely reports annual iPhone sales figures of more than 200 million units, and the company’s iPhone segment accounts for more than 50 percent of total revenue.

The iPhone’s place in the smartphone market

Once accounting for nearly a quarter of global smartphone market share, the iPhone has since faced increased competition from the South Korean electronics giant Samsung, as well as Chinese smartphone manufacturers like Huawei, Xiaomi, Vivo, and Oppo. The global average price for smartphones is forecast to grow in the near future, reaching a projected 317 U.S. dollars in 2021. With some newer models having a price tag of over 1,300 dollars, the iPhone is clearly positioned as a luxury product.

In 2023, the used smartphone market share (including both officially refurbished and used smartphones) in North America reached 26 percent. The used smartphone market is expected to decrease in North America and by 2026, it will amount to les than 25 percent of the global used smartphone market. The global refurbished smartphone market In recent years, the refurbished smartphone market has been growing at a global level and reached a size of roughly 50 billion U.S. dollars in 2021. In the same year, over 251 million used or refurbished smartphones were shipped globally, with Latin America and India being the market leaders in terms of growth. The U.S. refurbished smartphone market Despite the U.S. playing an active role in the global refurbished smartphone market, Americans appear to prefer to buy new phones instead of reconditioned ones, mainly because they are concerned with the quality and reliability of their smartphones. However, those who do buy such devices prefer Apple iPhones rather than Android smartphones, making the iPhone XR and the iPhone 11 the most popular reconditioned smartphones.

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.

The statistic shows the share of mobile phone sales worldwide to end users by vendor from 1997 to 2014. In 2014, Samsung held a market share of 20.9 percent of mobile phone sales worldwide.

Mobile phone market share - additional information

With a market share of about 21 percent, Samsung is the leading mobile phone vendor worldwide. Samsung has held the top position since 2012 when the South Korean company passed Nokia, Samsung’s closest competitor at the time. Nokia has seen its mobile phone market share fall from nearly 40 percent in 2008 to almost ten percent in 2014, dropping to third place in terms of market share in the beginning of 2015. The second largest mobile phone vendor in the world is Apple, with a share of around ten percent.

Samsung is especially known for some of its consumer products such as mobile devices and home entertainment systems. In the third quarter of 2015, the South Korean company sold over 100 million mobile phones. Samsung also leads the smartphone market; the company accounts for 42.7 percent of all smartphone shipments worldwide, with 306 million unitsin 2016 alone. The success in the mobile market is reflected in the company’s global revenue.

Apple has taken over the position of second largest mobile phone vendor in the world due to Nokia's decline, and the increasing popularity of smartphones. The company shipped just over 215 million smartphones in 2016. The iPhone is Apple's main product, and generates more than 60 percent of the company's revenue.

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.

In this graph you can see the global market share held by mobile phone vendors from the first quarter of 2008 to the latest financial quarter. In the first quarter of 2009, Nokia had a worldwide market share of 36.2 percent. By the third quarter of 2013, their share was down to just 13.8 percent. Mobile phone market - additional information Motorola Inc. presented the first prototype of a handheld mobile in 1973, although the company would not release their first commercially available model, the DynaTAC 8000X, for another eleven years. And even then, it came at an exorbitant price, making the technology only available for the very affluent. Three decades later, the mobile phone market has changed dramatically, in terms of accessibility and penetration, as well as technology and leading manufacturers. In 2015, there were an unprecedented 7.5 billion mobile connections worldwide, a number expected to sharply increase by 2020. Furthermore, the wide availability and decreasing price of new technologies have made smartphones more ubiquitous than ever: some 46 percent of worldwide mobile phone users own a smartphone.

As of the third quarter of 2015, the leading mobile phone manufacturer is the South Korean multinational company Samsung, with a 21.4 percent share of the mobile phone market, representing more than 100 million units sold worldwide. The second most successful mobile phone vendor is Apple Inc., which launched its first iPhone in 2007. That year, the American company sold 1.4 million units, but a sharp increase in popularity led to sales of over 230 million iPhones in the company’s 2015 fiscal year. Nokia has seen a strong decrease in market share in the past few years, after dethroning Motorola in the late 1990s and having dominated the market for a decade. As of 2016, its position is furthermore threatened by the growing popularity of other brands and manufacturers, such as Chinese giant Huawei .

During the fourth quarter of 2024, Apple shipped around 77 million iPhones, representing a more than 20 million unit increase compared to the previous quarter, though this figure was about 3.3 million units lower than the same quarter in the previous year. There has been a tendency of increased Apple smartphone shipments in the fourth quarters every year since 2011.  iPhones in the global smartphones picture After its release in 2007, the iPhone has gained solid ground in the global smartphone market, with market share fluctuating between 10 and 20 percent in recent years. As of the fourth quarter of 2024, Apple’s iPhones sales composed over 23 percent of the total global smartphone sales. COVID-19 impact With the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), shipments of various high-tech products were expected to stagnate during the first quarter of 2020, according to revised forecasts from March 26, 2020. Fewer smartphone units were expected to be shipped over the course of 2020, compared to previous forecasts. In 2021, however, Apple shipped more units globally than ever before.

Samsung has been a consistent front-row competitor in the global smartphone market. In the fourth quarter of 2024, Samsung held a global smartphone market share of 15.6 percent. Samsung’s smartphone market shareThe smartphone market has fluctuated considerably since 2009. Nokia used to lead the industry with almost 50 percent of the smartphone market share in 2007, but the company’s market presence dropped to around three percent in 2013. Apple and Samsung have remained among the top five smartphone vendors in the world since 2009. Samsung’s Galaxy, first released in 2009, is their main line of smartphone products, while Apple heavily invests in the iPhone, a primary source of revenue for the company. Samsung’s smartphone market share increased significantly in a span of three years, going from three percent in the second quarter of 2009 to 32.2 percent in the second quarter of 2012. None of its competitors have experienced a similar growth. As the overall smartphone market also grew, Samsung was able to maintain its position as the global market leader. In 2024 alone, the Korean electronics giant shipped around 223.5 million smartphones worldwide, and accounted for 19.4 percent of all smartphone shipments worldwide.