ISTANBUL

Smartphone shipments grew 2% year-on-year in 2025, driven by increasing premium demand and improving momentum in key markets, while Apple emerged as the market leader, according to data from Counterpoint Research released on Monday.

Apple maintained its leadership in the global smartphone market last year with a 20% market share and 10% year-on-year growth. The company primarily benefited from strong demand in smaller markets and developing economies.

South Korea's Samsung ranked second with a 19% share, while Chinese company Xiaomi came in third with 13%.

"In 2025, the smartphone market continued its gradual shift toward higher price tiers, driven by consumers upgrading to premium devices. Concurrently, demand for 5G handsets rose sharply across developing regions. Tariff-related concerns prompted OEMs to front-load shipments in H1, but as the year advanced, the impact of tariffs proved milder than anticipated, curbing their influence on H2 volumes," Counterpoint Research research director Tarun Pathak said.

He said that for the entire 2025 growth remained uneven across regions, as markets such as Japan, Middle East and Africa, and certain parts of the Asia-Pacific offset the weakness in mature markets.

Pathak, however, said they expect a decline in global smartphone sales this year.

He cited supply shortages and rising component costs as the reason, noting that the increase in data centers for AI has caused chip demand to far exceed supply, and many semiconductor companies are shifting their focus from producing memory for consumer electronics like smartphones or computers to producing memory that is more profitable for servers.

"Against this backdrop, we have revised our forecast for 2026 by reducing shipment estimates by 3%. Though the supply crunch will weigh on shipments, Apple and Samsung are likely to remain resilient, supported by stronger supply chain capabilities and premium market positioning, whereas Chinese OEMs concentrated in lower‑price segments will face greater pressure," Pathak added.