Apple iPhones Lead the Rankings of the Most Popular Smartphones in 2025

For clear evidence of Apple’s commanding presence in the global smartphone market, one only needs to examine Counterpoint Research’s latest findings on the top 10 best-selling smartphones of 2025. In this report, Apple’s iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro Max, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max dominate the top four positions.

iPhone 16 Tops Sales in 2025; iPhone 17 Sees Significant Growth

A bar chart titled 'Global Top 10 Best-selling Smartphones, 2025 and 2024' shows the iPhone 16 as the top seller for 2025 — Source

In its comprehensive analysis, Counterpoint Research highlighted several key points:

Apple and Samsung filled all top 10 slots, representing a combined total of 19% of global smartphone sales in 2025.
The base model iPhone 17 saw the highest growth, rising four positions in the rankings.
Sales of the iPhone 17 series surpassed its predecessor, boasting a 16% increase during its first full quarter on the market.
Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Ultra has significantly narrowed the gap with the popular A series, despite differences in pricing.

However, not all of Apple’s recent smartphone launches have achieved similar success. Recent reports from Ice Universe indicate poor sales for the iPhone Air in China, where only 200, 000 units have been sold compared to 17 million units for the iPhone 17 series.

In an attempt to boost sales, Apple’s official Tmall store in China has offered discounts reaching up to 2, 000 yuan (approximately $286), positioning the iPhone Air at around $788. Additionally, JD.com has further subsidized the price by about $57, leading to total reductions near $415.

Worryingly, the iPhone Air has experienced the highest depreciation rate among any iPhone model released since 2022, with reports indicating it has lost 47.7% of its value within the first ten weeks of its launch.

On a technical note, the iPhone Air offers a limited battery capacity and features a single 48MP camera which includes Telephoto-like optical-quality 2× zoom, along with just one speaker.

Looking ahead, Counterpoint Research estimates that Apple may conclude 2025 with an annual growth of 10% in iPhone shipments, potentially increasing its market share to 19.4%, the highest among global smartphone manufacturers.

Recent data indicates that Apple’s iPhones accounted for 25% of all smartphone sales in China in October, a remarkable milestone that was only achieved once before in 2022.

To provide some context, Apple sold 231.8 million iPhones in 2024. A projected 10% increase based on this figure suggests the company could ship approximately 254.98 million iPhones by the end of 2025.

During the recent earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook confidently forecasted record-breaking sales: