A new Counterpoint Research report breaks down the global active smartphone installed base in 2025, with the iPhone leading the way. Here are the details.
Apple nears 25% of the global active smartphone base
According to Counterpoint Research’s Smartphone Installed Base Tracker, the total installed base of active smartphones grew just 2% in 2025, with Apple and Samsung alone accounting for 44% of that total.
The top 10 also includes Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, Transsion, Huawei, Honor, Motorola, realme, and Google, with only the latter three still below the 200 million active devices mark. Honor, meanwhile, was the only brand to cross this mark in 2025.
Back to Apple, Counterpoint Research Senior Analyst Karn Chauhan noted that the company “added more net new smartphone devices than the next seven leading OEMs combined,” which highlights “its ability to attract and retain users in a mature market.”
Chauhan added:
“Apple leads the global active installed base, with about one in four active smartphones being an iPhone. This is driven by strong user loyalty, a deep iOS ecosystem and tightly integrated services. (…) Samsung ranks second with around one-fifth of the global active installed base. This is supported by its long-standing market presence, a broad portfolio spanning entry-level to premium segments, and extensive geographic reach across key regions.”
And speaking of the premium segment, the report also noted that this remains a challenging space, as “six OEMs outside Apple and Samsung held only a single-digit sales share in the premium segment priced above $600 wholesale,” in 2025.
The report also notes that Apple and Samsung are the only two smartphone manufacturers to have surpassed one billion active devices globally.
As for why the overall market grew by just 2% for the year, Counterpoint Research noted that this was “driven by replacement cycles for new devices increasing to nearly four years and a growing share of second-life devices in use.”
To learn more about the report, follow this link.
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