Ryan Haines / Android Authority
TL;DR
- The Galaxy A16 5G was the best-selling Android phone of 2025, beating out the flagship Galaxy S25 series.
- Apple dominated the top four spots globally with the iPhone 16 and iPhone 17 lineups.
- Demand for affordable 4G devices remains surprisingly high, as seen in the success of the Galaxy A06 4G, which sold more than any Galaxy S25 series flagship.
With all the marketing hype around Android flagships, you’d think that some of them would go on to be best sellers for the year. Take, for instance, the Galaxy S25 series, which launched globally in January 2025, giving it a strong position to emerge as a global top-seller in 2025. As it turns out, the most popular Galaxy phone of 2025 isn’t the Galaxy S25 — it’s not even a flagship at all.
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Counterpoint Research shared the top 10 best-selling smartphones in the world, and the most popular Android phone is the Galaxy A16 5G, followed by the Galaxy A06 4G.
Unsurprisingly, Apple iPhones dominate the best-seller chart again this year. The iPhone 16 remains at the top with a wider lead, followed by the iPhone 16 Pro Max and the iPhone 16 Pro. The newer iPhone 17 Pro Max is at the fourth spot, and it’s only at the fifth and sixth spot that we see Android phones make an appearance — and even those are budget Galaxy phones. The Galaxy A16 5G could have been a little higher, but Samsung refreshed it with the Galaxy A17 5G “earlier than expected,” which resulted in slightly lower sales for the predecessor.
If you’re hunting for a flagship, the Galaxy S25 Ultra comes in at the ninth spot (down from its predecessor), while the iPhone 17 impressively ranks higher despite being released in the trailing months of the year. It’s not all grim news, though: 2023 didn’t feature a Galaxy S flagship in the top 10, so Samsung still has the flagship momentum that carried it through 2025. Hopefully, it carries through 2026 too, but with a later release, the Galaxy S26 Ultra will have an uphill task.
Once again, Apple and Samsung dominated the global charts, with these 10 phones accounting for 19% of overall smartphone sales in 2025.
I am actually surprised to see a 4G smartphone once again on the best-sellers chart, and this time it’s even cheaper than the one that was on the chart last year. This indicates there’s significant demand for 4G budget phones globally — I wouldn’t fault you if you thought 4G phones weren’t as popular, given that most SoC and even phone releases are centered on 5G. Maybe more Android brands should reassess the weight they give to 5G smartphones if there’s still such a large underserved market.
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