That's far from shocking given that China's estimates for the opening 90 days of the year were up 5 percent compared to Q1 2024 at the same time that global figures only increased by 1 percent (or less). Still, it's certainly disappointing to see Europe's first-quarter smartphone shipments go down by 4 percent between last year and this year, especially when you consider that the two biggest vendors out there happened to release new devices that were expected to sell like hotcakes at the beginning of 2025.
Can you guess the market's "only real bright spot"?
No, I'm not expecting you to try to guess the name of Europe's top smartphone market performer in the January-March 2025 timeframe and I'm not going to keep you waiting either. That's Honor rather than Samsung or Apple, although the latter two are still the old continent's first and second most successful vendors with 33 and 26 percent of the quarter's total shipments respectively.
Honor is the only big gainer among Europe's top five smartphone vendors this quarter.
But while Samsung's numbers fell by 2 percent and Apple improved its sales by... 2 percent, Honor somehow managed to jump 20 percent between Q1 2024 and Q1 2025, ranking fourth overall after overtaking Realme. Honor, mind you, made the quarterly top five for the first time a year ago, and if its "continued aggressive strategy in Europe", well, continues, the Chinese brand could surpass domestic arch-rival Xiaomi next to crack the regional podium (also for the first time).
Xiaomi, in case you're wondering, is performing worse than Samsung but better than the "Others" category, losing 8 percent of the smartphone shipments racked up in Europe between January and March 2024.
That "Others" segment (which obviously includes all kinds of companies from Motorola to Oppo, Vivo, and OnePlus) might be largely responsible for the market's aforementioned 4 percent decline. That's the first such negative result posted in Europe in four quarters, although analysts remain confident (despite all the uncertainty surrounding Donald Trump's tariff policies) that sales could return to growth "by the end of the year."
The Galaxy S25 family and the iPhone 16e are not meeting expectations
Released in early February around the world, Samsung's ultra-high-end Galaxy S25 trio was supposed to improve on the global box-office performance of last year's Galaxy S24, S24 Plus, and S24 Ultra. But at least in Europe in Q1, that doesn't seem to have happened, and Counterpoint researchers think Samsung's lack of major upgrades is largely to blame for the S25 family's obvious underperformance.
The iPhone 16e and Galaxy S25 are not the box-office hits their manufacturers initially expected. | Image Credit -- PhoneArena
Apple's budget-friendly iPhone 16e, meanwhile, is at the same time named as the driving force behind its maker's (modest) year-on-year sales increase and described as a "relatively poor" seller in Europe compared to "some" other regions. That may sound contradictory at first, but if you think about it, it makes sense and it kind of perfectly characterizes a device that's too affordable to fail but too expensive to set the industry on fire.
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Basically, the best way to describe the iPhone 16e's sales results on the old continent seems to be as mixed, which is naturally not what can be said about such massively popular Honor handsets as the entry-level X6b, mid-end 20 series, and high-end Magic 7 and V3. Clearly, that type of broad, all-encompassing, and all-pleasing product portfolio is the best growth strategy in Europe... and not only in Europe right now.
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Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
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