The world's top smartphone vendor in Q1 and Q2 2025 managed to retain its crown between July and September as well, according to the preliminary sales reports put together by not one but two of the industry's biggest market research firms.
Samsung's latest achievement is made that much more impressive by the smartphone market's expansion in Q3 compared to the same timeframe of last year, as well as Apple's recent iPhone 17 family launch, which didn't come early enough in the quarter to cause a change at the top of the vendor hierarchy.
The gap is small, but the winner is clear
I'm not sure if you remember this now (which is why I'm bringing it up), but at the beginning of 2025, there was a little confusion as to what company won the global smartphone sales war last year. While the IDC (International Data Corporation) put Apple (narrowly) ahead of Samsung in 2024 worldwide shipments, Counterpoint Research had the order reversed in its full-year sell-through report.
That's what you call a mature market with little room for radical change.
This time around, things are a lot clearer, as the IDC (quoted by Reuters) and Omdia agree not just on the name of the Q3 2025 champ, but the tiny advantage held over the market's silver medalist too.
We're talking about a 19 to 18 percent market share win here, which perfectly matches the numbers and difference from Q3 2024. That apparently equates to 61.4 million units for Samsung and 58.6 million for Apple, and believe it or not, both scores are up from a year ago because the market as a whole is showing very promising signs of growth following two stagnant results in Q1 and Q2.
Did you buy a phone in Q3 2025?
Yes, a Samsung
32.26%
Yes, an iPhone
11.29%
Yes, an Android from another brand
9.68%
No, I'm waiting for the holidays
4.84%
No, I'm waiting for a different time
41.94%
While Omdia's estimates put the industry's progress at a healthy 3 percent year-on-year without detailing the totals of either Q3 2024 or Q3 2025, IDC analysts have far more specific figures for us. Namely, 322.7 million units during this year's July-September timeframe, marking a 2.6 percent increase from last year's July-September quarter.
How big of a victory will Apple claim in Q4?
Look, I'm no Nostradamus, but it's pretty obvious that Apple will (easily) dominate the global smartphone sales chart this holiday season. That's been the case for quite a few years now, and the tradition will certainly not be broken following a quarter where the iPhone 17 series barely had a couple of weeks of commercial availability to its name.
This was not a bad quarter for Apple, and the next one will be even better.
That (along with the steady popularity of last year's iPhone 16 roster) was apparently enough to bring Apple within one percentage point of Samsung's dominant market share in the same quarter that the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Z Flip 7 started selling, so the iPhone 17 family will definitely be successful enough to propel its makers to the number one spot in Q4.
Interestingly, the "base" iPhone 17 model is highlighted as the family's top early performer, reportedly "exceeding launch expectations" thanks to its upgraded storage and unchanged pricing, while the 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max sound like they're only matching the performance of their predecessors.
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As for the first-of-a-kind iPhone Air, its shipments so far are described as "modest", but that might not be true in a head-to-head comparison with the defunct iPhone 16 Plus. So, yes, the 2025 iPhone lineup as a whole is clearly outperforming the 2024 series, but it remains to be seen if the boost will be big enough to cancel Samsung's Q1 to Q3 advantage over Apple at the end of the year.
Let's not forget about the big picture
I know you're all primarily interested in the battle for supremacy between Samsung and Apple (especially when it's so close), but I believe the most important takeaway today is that the smartphone market is clearly growing again.
The industry as a whole is growing, and that's likely to continue happening in Q4.
Whether we're talking a 2.6 or 3 percent expansion, this is definitely a great sign of what's to come during the holidays, and no, the iPhone 17 family will certainly not be Q4's only bright star.
Instead, you can probably expect Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 7, Z Flip 7, and Galaxy A-series mid-rangers to continue to sell well, as will Xiaomi, Transsion, and Vivo's handsets that put the three companies in the third, fourth, and fifth spot in the global vendor hierarchy between July and September 2025. More than anything, we should celebrate the industry's general health rather than the narrow victory of our personal favorite brand.
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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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