Apple will take Samsung's phone crown for the first time in 14 years – and it's all thanks to the iPhone 17

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Apple will take Samsung's phone crown for the first time in 14 years – and it's all thanks to the iPhone 17 News By David Nield published 27 November 2025

Apple nicks top spot

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The iPhone 17 Pro helped to drive strong sales for Apple (Image credit: Lance Ulanoff / Future)

• Apple is set to grab 19.4% of smartphone sales in 2025
• It would put Apple just ahead of Samsung
• Samsung has held top spot for the past 14 years

There's about to be a new smartphone sales champion for 2025: Apple is reportedly going to be top of the leaderboard for phone units shipped globally this year, ending a 14-year run of Samsung being in the number one spot.

This comes from the analysts from Counterpoint (via The Verge), so these sales are still a prediction for now, but Apple is on course to shift 243 million phones in 2025, Counterpoint says, a 19.4% share of the market overall.

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It would put Apple a single percentage point above Samsung, which is expected to end 2025 having sold 235 million phones. Apple's strong performance will help push smartphone sales up by 3.3% year on year, the report says.

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Stronger-than-expected demand for the iPhone 17 series is apparently part of the reason behind Apple's success. According to Counterpoint, Apple sold 12 percent more iPhone 17 and iPhone Air models compared to the four iPhone 16 phones across the same period – even factoring in the rumored weak sales for the iPhone Air.

iPhone demand will remain high

The Galaxy S25 Ultra is one of Samsung's 2025 flagships (Image credit: Future)

"Consumers who purchased smartphones during the COVID-19 boom are now entering their upgrade phase," says Counterpoint's Yang Wang. "Furthermore, 358 million second-hand iPhones were sold between 2023 and Q2 2025. These users are also likely to upgrade to a new iPhone in the coming years."

A combination of these and other factors (including lower-than-expected tariffs) are likely to continue to drive strong demand for iPhones in the coming months. Counterpoint reckons that Apple could hold on to its top spot until 2029 – so your move, Samsung.

Samsung sales are said to still be up this year, especially in emerging and less developed markets, but not enough to take top spot in smartphone sales – at least according to Counterpoint's data, which is based on information from the supply chain and retailers.

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The report also backs up rumors that we're going to see both an iPhone 17e and a foldable iPhone at some point in 2026. We've also heard that Apple might rejig its iPhone launch schedule next year, with only the Pro versions of the iPhone 18 arriving in September.

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Today's best iPhone and Galaxy dealsApple iPhone 17 SG$1,259ViewSee all pricesApple iPhone 16e SG$857.70ViewSee all pricesSamsung Galaxy S25 Ultra SG$1,155ViewSee all pricesSamsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 SG$2,648 SG$2,396.49ViewSee all pricesWe check over 250 million products every day for the best prices TOPICS Samsung Apple CATEGORIES Samsung Galaxy Phones David NieldSocial Links NavigationFreelance Contributor

Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.

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