iPhone Remained World's Most Popular Smartphone Last Quarter

iPhone remained the world's most popular smartphone by a significant margin last quarter, according to research firm Strategy Analytics.

iphone trio
iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus were the two most popular models specifically, with an estimated 21.5 million and 17.4 million shipments respectively.

Chinese brand OPPO's flagship R9 smartphone trailed in third with an estimated 8.9 million shipments, while Samsung's mid-range Galaxy J3 and J5 rounded off the top five with an estimated 6.1 million and 5 million shipments respectively. Other brands combined for an estimated 294.4 million smartphone shipments.

most popular smartphones q1 2017 strategy analytics
Apple reported that it sold 50.8 million iPhones last quarter, but it does not break out sales on a model-by-model basis.

Strategy Analytics' estimates suggest the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus accounted for roughly 76.5 percent of Apple's smartphone sales last quarter, with the remaining 23.5 percent of sales derived from older models. The data also suggests a 55/45 percent sales split for the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus respectively.

In late January, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the iPhone 7 Plus is the most popular Plus-sized iPhone that Apple has ever sold, topping both the iPhone 6s Plus and iPhone 6 Plus. Last week, he added that Apple significantly underestimated iPhone 7 Plus demand, resulting in a shortage of the device for several months.

iPhone was the world's most popular smartphone last year as well, according to research firm IHS Markit.

Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

streaming black friday 2025

Black Friday Streaming Deals Include Big Savings on Disney+, Hulu, Apple TV, and More

Monday November 24, 2025 8:03 am PST by
We've been focusing on deals on physical products over the past few weeks, but Black Friday is also a great time of year to purchase a streaming membership. Some of the biggest services have great discounts for new and select returning members this week, including Disney+, Hulu, Paramount+, Peacock, and more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a...
Apple Foldable Thumb

Foldable iPhone to Debut These Three Breakthrough Features

Tuesday November 25, 2025 7:09 am PST by
Apple's first foldable iPhone is expected to launch alongside the iPhone 18 Pro models in fall 2026, and it's shaping up to include three standout features that could set it apart from the competition. The book-style foldable will reportedly feature an industry-first 24-megapixel under-display camera built into the inner display, according to a recent JP Morgan equity research report. That...
General Black Friday Deals 25 Red

Apple Black Friday Deals Available Now on AirPods, iPads, Accessories, and More

Friday November 21, 2025 8:48 am PST by
We're only a few days away from Black Friday, which will take place on Friday, November 28 in 2025. As always, this will be the best time of the year to shop for great deals, including popular Apple products like AirPods, iPad, Apple Watch, and more. In this article, the majority of the discounts will be found on Amazon. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When...
iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Adds These New Features to Your iPhone

Thursday November 20, 2025 10:50 am PST by
iOS 26.2 is currently in beta testing. The upcoming update includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, including a new Liquid Glass slider for the Lock Screen's clock, offline lyrics for Apple Music, and more. In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 26.2 will be released to all users in December, but it did not provide a specific release date. Keep reading...
General Apps Messages Redux

Singapore Orders Changes to iMessage by December

Tuesday November 25, 2025 6:39 am PST by
Singapore has ordered Apple to block or filter messages on iMessage that impersonate government agencies, requiring the company to implement new anti-spoofing protections by December as part of efforts to curb rising online scams, the Straits Times reports. Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that it had issued an Implementation Directive to Apple under the Online Criminal Harms...
iOS 26 on Three iPhones

iOS 27 Will Reportedly Have Two Key Upgrades

Sunday November 23, 2025 8:48 am PST by
iOS 27 will reportedly have two major elements: quality improvements and new AI features. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that iOS 27 will be similar to Mac OS X Snow Leopard, in the sense that Apple is focused on improving "quality and underlying performance" over adding new features. Gurman said there is one exception to this rule, though, as he expects...
maxresdefault

The MacRumors Show: iPhone 18 Pro Looks Like a Huge Upgrade

Friday November 21, 2025 9:10 am PST by
On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we talk through all of the new features and improvements expected to come to next year's iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max models. Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos Apple's next-generation iPhones are less than ten months away and we already have a good idea about what to expect based on corroborated leaks, rumors,...
apple news banner

Apple News Loses CNN

Monday November 24, 2025 7:56 am PST by
American multinational news company CNN has abruptly pulled its content from Apple News, Semafor reports. CNN quietly removed its stories from Apple News over the weekend and there is no longer a feed from the network to subscribe to in the app. This effectively ends its distribution agreement with Apple while the two sides negotiate new terms. Discussions are apparently ongoing and CNN's...
Apple Foldable Thumb

Crease-Free iPhone Fold on Track for 2026 Launch as Development Advances

Monday November 24, 2025 10:25 am PST by
Apple is making progress on the development of the book-style foldable iPhone expected in 2026, according to a report from Chinese site UDN. The device has reportedly entered the engineering validation stage, and Apple is gearing up for mass production. Citing supply chain sources, UDN says that Apple has solved "the crease problem" that has plagued most foldable smartphones, and the...

Top Rated Comments

adepew Avatar
112 months ago
I wonder why the OPPO is the third most sold smartphone last quarter...



Attachment Image
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
autrefois Avatar
112 months ago


This chart shows that the iPhone 7 and the 7 Plus are both selling infinitely better than they were in Q1 of last year! That ought to shut up the "Apple is doomed" folks. ;)
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
djcerla Avatar
112 months ago
This is why you can buy every. kind. of. accessory. if you have an iPhone. A huge ecosystem advantage.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
62tele Avatar
112 months ago
As always conflicting statistics depending on the source. Go to sites such as ZDNet and the story is quite different where Samsung have the upper hand.
I just checked zdnet and found nothing to conflict with that report. Further, a search of Google didn't turn up anything either. Regardless, it doesn't matter. Apple's iPhone sales are producing profits unrivaled by others. It's iPhone versus the undifferentiated Android devices. Many use the term "iPhone" to generically refer to smartphones. No other device has that cachet.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Wowereit Avatar
112 months ago
As always conflicting statistics depending on the source. Go to sites such as ZDNet and the story is quite different where Samsung have the upper hand.

Not of course there is any bias at all.
Samsung is selling more devices than Apple, but Apple's best-selling model is outselling Samsung's best-selling model.

It's not that complicated.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Zirel Avatar
112 months ago
The best sold Apple phone costs $649 for the base 32GB model

The best sold Samsung phone costs $92 for the base 8GB model

No wonder Samsung sells more phones than Apple...

Units are not comparable at all!

What's the point of selling many cheap phones? It is clear that Android OEMs cannot make it back in volume, because Google and Spotify are the ones taking advantage of Android's volume and not the OEMs. Google's not even taking that much of advantage of volume, because their store, with 85% of the marketshare of devices only makes 50% of what Apple makes, and YouTube Red, Google Play Music, etc. have been failures.

What's really interesting is that the Chinese can sell a more expensive phone than Samsung, the Oppo R9s costs $499! What a world, where a company that lives of the shade of Android being open source (no Google Play in China), can convince people to spend much more money than Samsung can! So many engineers, such a big company, so much money spent on advertising, and the result is selling a product like this:

(https://postimg.org/image/pudipdp2p/)print screen windows 7 (https://postimage.io/app.php)certificity.com (https://certificity.com)

Their own costumers rate it 1.5 stars / 5!
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)