Did you know Apple Soars, vivo Climbs, Huawei Returns — Q1 2025 Smartphone Market Shifts Sharply
According to Counterpoint Research's Market Pulse Early Look,
the global smartphone market has grown by 3% in Q1 2025. Even though
there was some decline seen in developed markets, China saw some growth
mostly because of government subsidies. Emerging markets like
Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East also saw some recovery
in their global smartphone market in Q1 2025. Ankit Malhotra, the senior
research analyst at Counterpoint Research, said that mixed results were
seen in 2025, with emerging markets showing better results because of
better economic conditions and mature markets slowing down after
recovering in 2024.
Global smartphone sales were strong in
January because of subsidies in China and the release of the iPhone 16e
and Samsung S25. But this momentum slowed down by the end of the quarter
because of trade war risks and economic uncertainties. Overall, the
market is predicted to decline YoY by 2025. Q1 of 2025 saw interesting
competition among OEMs, with Apple being at the top spot mostly because
of the launch of the iPhone 16e. Even though there were declining or
flat sales in markets like Europe, the US, and China, there was
double-digit growth of Apple in markets like the Middle East &
Africa, Japan, Southeast Asia, and India.
The
second top OEM was Samsung, with 18% of the market share. Even though
Samsung sales slowed down at the beginning of the quarter, they picked
up in March after the S25 series was launched. Xiaomi took the third
spot and overall had strong momentum and good market share. It is also
slowly growing in the premium segment, and its brand image has been
boosted in China mostly due to its entry into electric vehicles.
The
fastest growing brand among the top five smartphone brands was vivo,
coming at number four, because of its growth in emerging markets and
China and strong performance. It was followed by OPPO, which had good
sales in Latin America, India, and Europe. Outside the top five, Huawei,
HONOR, and Motorola are also growing fast and will probably have tough
competition globally soon. Huawei took the number one spot as top
selling brand in China in Q1 while HONOR and Motorola also saw growth in
various markets. 2023 was tough but now the condition of the global
smartphone market is improving because of better economic conditions,
but it is still expected to decline by the end of 2025.
| Brand | Q1 2023 Share | Q1 2024 Share | Q1 2025 Share | Year-over-Year Change (Q1 2025 vs Q1 2024) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple | 20% | 19% | 19% | +4% |
| Samsung | 21% | 20% | 18% | -5% |
| Xiaomi | 12% | 13% | 14% | +5% |
| vivo | 8% | 8% | 8% | +6% |
| OPPO | 10% | 8% | 8% | -1% |
| Others | 29% | 32% | 33% | +6% |