Was Apple the world's number one smartphone vendor between January and March 2025? Not exactly. But unsurprisingly, the Cupertino-based tech giant crushed all its rivals in the always pivotal US market during the year's first three months, somehow managing to further extend an already massive lead over arch-nemesis Samsung.
That's at least according to the latest Counterpoint Research estimates of "sell-out", aka actual smartphone consumer sales, in Apple's homeland. As usual, this undoubtedly reliable report provides insight into other mobile industry trends as well, including the fluctuations of the nation's premium and low-cost segments, the numbers posted by the top three US carriers, and the growth or decline of smaller players compared to Samsung and Apple.
The iPhone 16e is outshining the Galaxy S25 family
While I don't really have the data to compare the sales results of Samsung's newest unapologetic flagships and Apple's latest affordable powerhouse (and I'm not sure if that would be a very fair comparison anyway), it's pretty clear that the iPhone 16e is surpassing its maker's expectations and the Galaxy S25 trio is... not.
The S25, S25 Plus, and S25 Ultra are performing worse than their predecessors did this time last year at the US box-office, causing a dip in demand for so-called "premium" handsets (priced $800 and above) and even Android smartphones as a whole.
That's a huge number for Apple and a pretty disappointing one for all other smartphone vendors.
The iPhone 16e, of course, is not considered premium in this analysis, but that was clearly not very important for many Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile subscribers. Incredibly enough, Apple's combined sales share at the three mobile network operators jumped from 70 percent in Q1 2024 to no less than 72 percent in the same period of this year even though the company's own "flagship" numbers were down.
That means this report is actually not all good for Apple, which also contributed to the market's 4 percent year-on-year decline in premium sales and an overall dip of 2 percent between the January-March 2024 timeframe and Q1 2025.
Motorola, AT&T, and T-Mobile are up, while Verizon is down
Despite operating primarily in a sub-$300 segment that also shrunk by a worrying 5 percent during the first three months of 2025, Motorola impressively managed to boost its sales by 13 percent over Q1 2024. That happened mainly due to an early launch of new Moto G models, but also as a consequence of reduced operations by "smaller brands."
Today's Counterpoint Research study lacks any mention of Google or Pixel devices, which is certainly not good news for the search giant's hardcore fans, and as far as carriers are concerned, you might be surprised to find out that AT&T outperformed T-Mobile and Verizon in terms of sales growth.
The Moto G 2025 is one of the surprising winners of the latest US smartphone market analysis. | Image Credit -- PhoneArena
That's right, AT&T's smartphone sales jumped by 5 percent in Q1 2025 compared to last year's first three months, while T-Mobile reported a comparatively humble 2 percent increase and Verizon saw its numbers drop by 6 percent. All in all, that led to "relatively flat" figures for the three carriers taken together, which is not exactly great news given that general demand surged in late March (and April) due to the fear that prices would rise after Trump's China tariffs (temporarily) came into effect.
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The persisting political uncertainty makes it impossible to predict how the US smartphone market will "play out" in the current quarter and the rest of the year, although for what it's worth, prices are unlikely to increase anytime soon for Apple, Motorola, TCL, or Samsung products. That's because the first three companies have reportedly stockpiled phones in the US to potentially last them "through summer" even if sky-high tariffs are reinstated, while Samsung is not very reliant on Chinese production anyway.
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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