The number of Apple iPhone unit sales dramatically increased between 2007 and 2023. Indeed, in 2007, when the iPhone was first introduced, Apple shipped around 1.4 million smartphones. By 2023, this number reached over 231 million units.

The newest models and iPhone’s lasting popularity

Apple has ventured into its 17th smartphone generation with its Phone 15 lineup, which, released in September 2023, includes the 15, 15 Plus, 15 Pro and Pro Max. Powered by the A16 bionic chip and running on iOS 17, these models present improved displays, cameras, and functionalities. On the one hand, such features come, however, with hefty price tags, namely, an average of 1,000 U.S. dollars. On the other hand, they contribute to making Apple among the leading smartphone vendors worldwide, along with Samsung and Xiaomi. In the first quarter of 2024, Samsung shipped over 60 million smartphones, while Apple recorded shipments of roughly 50 million units.

Success of Apple’s other products

Apart from the iPhone, which is Apple’s most profitable product, Apple is also the inventor of other heavy-weight players in the consumer electronics market. The Mac computer and the iPad, like the iPhone, are both pioneers in their respective markets and have helped popularize the use of PCs and tablets. The iPad is especially successful, having remained as the largest vendor in the tablet market ever since its debut. The hottest new Apple gadget is undoubtedly the Apple Watch, which is a line of smartwatches that has fitness tracking capabilities and can be integrated via iOS with other Apple products and services. The Apple Watch has also been staying ahead of other smart watch vendors since its initial release and secures around 50 percent of the market share as of the latest quarter.

In the first quarter of its 2025 fiscal year, Apple generated around 69 billion U.S. dollars in revenue from the sales of iPhones. Apple iPhone revenue The Apple iPhone is one of the biggest success stories in the smartphone industry. Since its introduction to the market in 2007, Apple has sold more than 1.5 billion units worldwide. As of the third quarter of 2024, the Apple iPhone’s market share of new smartphone sales was over 16 percent. Much of its accomplishments can be attributed to Apple’s ability to keep the product competitive throughout the years, with new releases and updates. Apple iPhone growth The iPhone has shown to be a crucial product for Apple, considering that the iPhone’s share of the company’s total revenue has consistently grown over the years. In the first quarter of 2009, the iPhone sales were responsible for about a quarter of Apple’s revenue. In the third quarter of FY 2024, this figure reached a high of roughly 50 percent, equating to less than 40 billion U.S. dollars in that quarter. In terms of units sold, Apple went from around 55.8 million units in 2010 to about 232 million in 2023, but registered a peak in the fourth quarter of 2020 with more than 90 million iPhones sold worldwide.

How many iPhones have been sold in 2018?

In the fourth quarter of 2018 alone, Apple sold 46.89 million iPhones worldwide, a figure which slightly outpaced its sales from the corresponding quarter of 2017. In entire 2018, 217.72 million iPhones were shipped worldwide. Apple typically releases at least one new version of its iPhone each year, a strategy which has helped the company consistently pull in quarterly sales figures in the tens of millions. Apple stopped reporting iPhone unit sales at the end of fiscal year 2018; more recent shipment data can be found here.

iPhone’s popularity

As of 2019, estimates suggest that the United States is home to around 266 million smartphone users, cementing the country’s place as a major regional market within the industry. Of those U.S. based smartphone consumers, over 45 percent are Apple iPhone users. This market share figure speaks to the iPhone’s massive popularity within its domestic market, but how does the product fare internationally? At a global scale, Apple’s flagship product faces increased competition, especially from established Asian technology firms like Samsung, Huawei, and OPPO. Despite this, the iPhone has consistently ranked among the most popular devices in the world since its initial release in June 2007.

Apple products

Although the iPhone is the company’s biggest revenue generator by far, Apple offers a multitude of products across a variety of consumer electronics categories. The company’s products include everything from laptops to smartwatches, while additionally offering tech-related services such as an online payment platform and cloud storage.

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.

In 2023, Apple shipped more than ten million smartphones to India. It was Apple's best year in the country, a significant growth over the previous year. Apple's market share in India stood at 6.4 percent in the same year, in comparison with 4.6 percent in the previous year. iPhone14/13/14 Plus were the most popular models among iPhones.

iPhone sales in the United States amounted to 16 million units in the first quarter of 2018, a strong first quarter performance for Apple's signature smartphone.

Apple in the United States

Apple has a high presence in the United States more than anywhere else in the world. In 2018, 45.1 percent of U.S. smartphone users used an iPhone. As of March 2019, iPhone’s installed base in the United States reached 193 million. Apple’s tablet product iPad is also popular: as of February 2018, the ownership rate of iPad stood at 32 percent for U.S. consumers aged between 30 and 44. According to a new Statista survey, when asked about how they feel about Apple on a gut level, 67 percent U.S. consumers reported positive feelings. Although international sales have overtaken U.S. sales to become Apple’s major revenue stream, the home ground remains immensely significant for the company.

In June 2024, the iPhone had a market share of 33.5 percent in Germany, a noticeable increase compared to the same month a year before. Figures fluctuated during the specified time period. Apple or Android? One of the most asked questions among smartphone users or those wanting to buy a smartphone is whether to purchase Android or Apple as an OS. Usually it is a choice between the two, even if other OS are also available on the market. Android and Apple, however, seem to remain the best-known among consumers. When comparing the market share of both in smartphone sales in Germany, Android far outperformed Apple. Another comparison shows that Windows and Blackberry OS are hardly ever chosen by German consumers. Full speed ahead Daily life is practically unimaginable without a smartphone. The number of private household owning at least one smartphone has only been growing in recent years, from 76.4 percent in 2005 to 98.1 percent in 2022. Sales revenue fluctuated in the last decade, but generally increased, amounting to 13.8 billion euros in 2023.

The number of iPhone unit sales drastically increased between 2015 and 2023. During this period, the Americas have been Apple's most profitable regional market, recording almost 100 million iPhone unit sales in 2023.

iPhone sales made up approximately 55.6 percent of Apple’s total revenue in the first quarter of the company’s fiscal year 2025. iPhone sales usually contribute to half or more than half of Apple’s overall sales revenue. Apple’s other businesses such as the Apple Watch and the iTunes Store have been bringing in growing shares of revenues, from around five percent in 2017 to a combined almost 30 percent in the first quarter of FY 2025. Apple is the second largest smartphone vendor As Apple’s most successful product, the iPhone is one of the most heavyweight players in the smartphone market, with dozens of millions of iPhones being shipped every quarter. Indeed, when it comes to smartphone vendor share, Apple is the second largest smartphone vendor in the world, after Samsung. iPhone runs the iOS system, which is Apple’s inhouse operating system. Most other products on the market run the Android system developed by Google. iOS occupies around a quarter of the overall mobile operating system market, Android the rest. The differences between iOS and Android iOS is a closed system while Android is more open, which means that users can better customize their phones using the Android system. Because of its open nature, Android is also an easier target for hackers, whereas iOS is considered safer as Apple does not release its source code to developers and users. Both operating systems get regularly updated – Android 13 is Android’s 13th major release, and iOS 17 is the 17th major iOS release. Due to the great many models of Android phone devices, the Android versions are more fragmented than iOS, with older versions like Marshmallow and Lollipop still running on a big number of devices, whereas iOS 17, released in 2023, runs on around 66 percent of all Apple devices when looking at iOS version share.

How many people have iPhones in the United States?

In 2022, there were more than 120 million iPhone users in the United States, accounting for nearly 49 percent of all smartphone users in the country. Overall, nearly 300 million people in the United States use a smartphone, which means that roughly 90 percent of the country’s population has access to a smartphone. Apple iPhone worldwide

As of 2022, Apple’s iOS operating system had a share of close to 60 percent of the mobile operating system market in the United States, the country with the highest market share both for the iPhone and the iOS operating system. Apple did not enjoy such a dominant market position in any other country, yet remained one of the top three smartphone vendors worldwide, selling more than 200 million iPhones every year. Taken together, the top three smartphone vendors Samsung, Apple, and Xiaomi accounted for over half of the annual smartphone shipments during the second quarter of 2022.

iPhone is Apple’s main revenue source The iPhone is Apple’s main source of revenue, consistently generating around 50 percent of the company's sales worldwide. Apple does offer a multitude of other products across a variety of consumer electronics categories, including laptops, smartwatches, and tech-related services such as its App Store, Apple Pay, and cloud storage.

In April 2017, 728 million iPhones were in use worldwide. China is the country where people used the most iPhones, followed by Apple’s home market the United States – at that time, 228 million iPhones were in use in China and 120 million in the U.S.

iPhone in the United States

Although more iPhones are in use in China than in the U.S., Apple has a greater presence in their home country more than anywhere else in the world. iPhone sales in the United States amounted to 22.4 million units in the fourth quarter of 2017. In 2018, 45.1 percent of U.S. smartphone users used an iPhone. As of March 2019, iPhone’s installed base in the United States reached 193 million. According to a new Statista survey, when asked about how they feel about Apple on a gut level, 67 percent U.S. consumers reported positive feelings. Although international sales have overtaken U.S. sales to become Apple’s major revenue stream, the home ground remains immensely significant for the company.

The statistic shows the forecast unit shipments of Apple iPhones by model worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2014 and the first quarter of 2015. In the first quarter of 2015, iPhone 6 shipments were projected to amount to 34.34 million units.

iPhone sales by model – additional information

The iPhone, one of Apple’s most successful products, was a breakthrough product for the smartphone industry and is a dominant product in the market. Since the introduction of its first generation in 2007, Apple sold more than 820 million iPhones worldwide. The iPhone 5S is the most popular iPhone model, as around 125 million people in the world use this device. The iPhone 6 has the second highest number of users amongst all models, 85 million, closely followed by the iPhone 5 with 80 million users worldwide.

Around 73 million iPhones were shipped worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2014. The two newest models, iPhone 6 and 6s, accounted for about 80 percent of all shipments. In the same fiscal quarter, iPhone 5S, iPhone 5C and iPhone 4S shipments were projected to amount to 14.7 million units together. Apple’s fourth fiscal quarter corresponds to the third calendar quarter, as the company closes its balance by the end of September. Considering the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6s were both released in September of 2014, the statistic above presents the figures of the model’s introduction to the consumer market.

With a successful introduction to the market, the sales of the iPhone 6 and 6s had a direct impact on Apple’s revenue. In the fourth fiscal quarter of 2014, iPhone sales generated around 24 billion U.S. dollars in revenues for the company, accounting for 56 percent of Apple’s revenue. In the first quarter of 2015, iPhone’s share of Apple’s revenue increased to almost 69 percent, generating over 51 billion U.S. dollars in revenues for the company.

This statistic illustrates the sales volume share of leading iPhone models in Japan in 2017, ranked by smartphone model. That year, the Apple iPhone 7 made up the largest share of iPhones sold in Japan with approximately 51.1 percent. The iPhone 8 ranked second with a sales share of about 11 percent.

In 2022, the leading Apple iPhone model sold to Cashify, the pre-owned phone platform, was the iPhone XR at 12.8 percent of all Apple iPhones. It was followed by iPhone 11 with 12 percent. iPhone XR was released in October 2018.

As of March 2021, Apple’s iPhone XR accounted for 24.5 percent of total iPhone sales and continues to be Apple’s most sold iPhone model since December 2018. Releasing new versions of its massively successful smartphone each year, Apple has been able to achieve consistently high quarterly sales of its iPhone products.

iPhone

Since the release of the original iPhone in June of 2007, Apple’s line of smartphones has consistently ranked among the most popular devices in the world in terms of market share. In the United States, nearly half of all smartphone users use an iPhone, and with over a billion phones sold throughout the products’ history, there is no denying their widespread success.

Apple

Although the iPhone is the company’s biggest revenue generator by far, Apple offers a multitude of products across a variety of consumer electronics categories. The company’s products include everything from a line of laptops (MacBook) to a line of smart watches (Apple Watch). One of the biggest tech firms in the world, Apple’s revenue figures frequently double those of some other tech giants: Google and Microsoft.

The statistic shows the combined unit shipments of Apple's iPhone by model worldwide from 2008 to 2015. Apple has sold about 143.4 units of its iPhone 5 model between the third quarter of 2012 and the second quarter of 2013.

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.

The statistic shows a comparison of Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod sales from the first quarter of 2006 to the company's latest financial quarter. In Apple's forth financial quarter of 2018 approximately 47 million iPhones were sold worldwide.

Apple product sales - additional information

Since the introduction of the iPhone in June 2007, sales of the iPod have dramatically decreased from over 10 million units per quarter on average to less than 3 million units in the fourth quarter of 2014, after which Apple stopped reporting sales figures for the iPod as its own category. In contrast, sales of the iPhone have increased rapidly, with over 211 million units sold worldwide in 2016 and over 77 million units sold in the first quarter of 2018 alone. Apple’s operating system, iOS had a global market share of 12.5 percent in the third quarter of 2017, making it the second most popular operating system in the world behind only the Android OS.

Apple released its first iPad in April 2010, with the two most recent models, the iPad Air 2 and the iPad Mini, announced in October 2014. There have been seven versions of the iPad to date. At the beginning of 2012, the iPad was the dominant force in the global tablet market with a market share of 58.1 percent. This share decreased to 25.8 percent in the third quarter of 2017 as Apple faced competition from Google and Samsung. The iPad nevertheless remains a major product for Apple with unit sales of 13 million in the first quarter of 2018, generating revenue of over 5.9 billion U.S. dollars.

The Americas are Apple’s largest regional market, bringing in net sales of 52.65 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter of the company’s 2025 fiscal year. Europe and Greater China are two other major markets for Apple. U.S.: Apple’s biggest market The high revenue generated from the Americas is largely due to Apple’s strong performance in their home market, the United States. Apple has the largest market share among smartphone vendors in the U.S. by a large margin. Although international sales have a growing share of Apple’s total revenue, the U.S. still counts for around 42 percent of Apple’s net sales. The U.S. also has the highest concentration of Apple stores, which is Apple’s own chain of retail stores that showcase and sell Apple’s various products including the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, among others. iPhone: Apple’s most profitable product The iPhone, initially released in 2007, became Apple’s most successful product: The share of iPhone sales consistently amount to more than 55 percent of Apple’s overall share of sales. The early generations of iPhone revolutionized the mobile phone industry and popularized the use of smartphones. Now in the 18th generation, the new iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max continue to contribute to the success of Apple’s signature product, helping push for year-on-year iPhone sales growth despite the economic recession we are experiencing.

The iPhone is Apple’s most popular product, selling 46.89 million units in the fourth quarter of 2018. Apple’s other signature products, the iPad and the Mac computer, sold 9.67 and 5.3 million respectively in the same quarter.

iPhone

Apple’s iPhone, being first introduced to the market in 2007, was a revolutionary device that changed the landscape of the mobile phone industry. Now 12 years after its initial release, about 1.5 billion iPhones have been sold worldwide, making it one of the most used smartphones in the world. Revenues generated from iPhone sales consistently make up around 60 percent of Apple’s overall revenue in recent years and in the first quarter of 2019 alone, revenues generated by iPhone sales amounted to 52 billion U.S. dollars. iPhone’s great success contributes to Apple’s booming revenue and helped to make the company one of the world’s most valuable brands.