Apple achieved impressive 13% year-over-year growth in Q1 2025, shipping 55 million iPhones worldwide and increasing its global market share to 19%, up from 16% a year ago, according to the latest Canalys research.
Apple's performance is in stark contrast to the broader smartphone market, which recorded just 0.2% growth with 296.9 million units shipped globally.
Samsung maintained its lead with 60.5 million units and 20% market share, but it grew only 1% compared to last year. Xiaomi secured third place with 41.8 million units, followed by vivo and OPPO with about 8% market share each.
The U.S. smartphone market was a bright spot, growing 12% year-on-year, mainly driven by iPhone sales. According to Le Xuan Chiew of Canalys, "Apple proactively built up inventory ahead of anticipated tariff policies," which helped it lead the pack.
Apple has been diversifying production recently by ramping up iPhone manufacturing in India for both standard iPhone 15 and 16 models, as well as iPhone 16 Pro models. Ongoing fluctuations in reciprocal tariff policies are making Apple further shift U.S.-bound production to India to reduce exposure to future risks.
There was a lot of variation in regional demand in Q1. The U.S. market grew substantially and China benefited from government subsidies, but previously strong markets like India, Latin America, and the Middle East had notable declines.
Canalys expects the U.S. smartphone market to experience significant volatility over the next two to three quarters, due to inventory corrections and weakening consumer confidence in the face of fluctuating import tariffs.
Thursday February 5, 2026 12:22 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple plans to announce the iPhone 17e on Thursday, February 19, according to Macwelt, the German equivalent of Macworld.
The report, citing industry sources, is available in English on Macworld.
Apple announced the iPhone 16e on Wednesday, February 19 last year, so the iPhone 17e would be unveiled exactly one year later if this rumor is accurate. It is quite uncommon for Apple to unveil...
Thursday February 5, 2026 12:54 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple turns 50 this year, and its CEO Tim Cook has promised to celebrate the milestone. The big day falls on April 1, 2026.
"I've been unusually reflective lately about Apple because we have been working on what do we do to mark this moment," Cook told employees today, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. "When you really stop and pause and think about the last 50 years, it makes your heart ...
Saturday February 7, 2026 9:26 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today shared an ad that shows how the upgraded Center Stage front camera on the latest iPhones improves the process of taking a group selfie.
"Watch how the new front facing camera on iPhone 17 Pro takes group selfies that automatically expand and rotate as more people come into frame," says Apple. While the ad is focused on the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, the regular iPhone...
Friday February 6, 2026 3:06 pm PST by Juli Clover
In the iOS 26.4 update that's coming this spring, Apple will introduce a new version of Siri that's going to overhaul how we interact with the personal assistant and what it's able to do.
The iOS 26.4 version of Siri won't work like ChatGPT or Claude, but it will rely on large language models (LLMs) and has been updated from the ground up.
Upgraded Architecture
The next-generation...
Tuesday February 3, 2026 7:47 am PST by Joe Rossignol
While the iOS 26.3 Release Candidate is now available ahead of a public release, the first iOS 26.4 beta is likely still at least a week away. Following beta testing, iOS 26.4 will likely be released to the general public in March or April.
Below, we have recapped known or rumored iOS 26.3 and iOS 26.4 features so far.
iOS 26.3
iPhone to Android Transfer Tool
iOS 26.3 makes it easier...
Shipments does not equal sales. Like was stated above, Apple flew 5 cargo jets of iPhones to the US before the tariffs kicked in this past quarter. I'm guessing a lot of the "good news" here is just tons of iPhones sitting in warehouses now.
I do wonder what other part has been driving the smartphone sales of Apple. Do they sell another smartphone besides the iPhone or, and that's my guess, is this sloppy writing?
Are you talking about this sentence? "The U.S. smartphone market was a bright spot, growing12% year-on-year, mainly driven by iPhone sales."
That's saying the whole U.S. smartphone market had 12% growth in smartphone sales [across all brands]. Apple's 13% growth was a major component of the U.S. growth.
Not sloppy writing, probably just reading/skimming too quickly! We all do it.
Yes, there were previous reports that it is selling well. How much a role in that corporate purchases have is unclear, though we have threads in this forum that show there are many happy regular buyers as well. I personally think it's a bit overpriced for the feature set.
It would be interesting to see what happened if those Chinese brands were able to sell their phones in the US.
It would be interesting to see what happened if China didn't impose restrictions on iPhone usage/ownership by government officials and employees of state-owned enterprises. China also puts restrictions on some iPhone features (such as those related to Apple Intelligence) which can make the phones less appealing.
