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iPhone sales

Read Cult of Mac’s latest posts on iPhone sales:

Demand for AI features drives robust iPhone 17 sales

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Demand for AI features helps drive robust iPhone 17 sales
This year's iPhone lineup includes the iPhone 17 Pro, the super-slim iPhone Air and the "regular" iPhone 17.
Photo: Apple

Apple shipped 58.6 million iPhones and captured 18.2% of the global smartphone market, the company’s “best results ever in a July quarter,” according to new data from the International Data Corporation. The iPhone nearly matched Samsung’s 19% market share.

Demand for innovation, like new artificial intelligence features, plus aggressive trade-in programs, helped fuel the surge, despite tariff woes, IDC said.

iPhone rakes in 3 times the revenue of any rival

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Apple vs Samsung
Apple’s revenue from iPhone dwarfs Samsung’s revenue from Android sales.
Image: Apple/Samsung/Cult of Mac

Apple’s revenue from selling iPhones makes up a whopping 43% of the global smartphone total, according to a new report from a market research firm. That’s close to triple the revenue the next closest rival brings in from its Androids.

Apple rakes in such a high percentage of the total by selling high-end models, versus its rivals who get their revenue from basic smartphones.

iPhone sales tumble in the US as Samsung grows

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Desert and Black Titanium iPhone 16 Pro laying on top of each other
Desert Titanium and Black Titanium.
Photo: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

iPhone shipments in the US declined by a whopping 11% to 13.3 million units. This is despite the market itself growing by a modest 1% annually.

Samsung made the most of the slowdown in iPhone sales, with its shipments growing by 38% YoY.

iPhone dominates list of world’s bestselling smartphones

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iPhone Series 16 day in photos
More people around the world buy the iPhone 16 than any other model.
Photo: Apple

The iPhone 16 is the bestselling smartphone in the world, according to a market research firm. In fact, the global list of the top five bestselling handsets in the first quarter of 2025 includes four iPhones and one Samsung model in the bottom slot.

According to the analysts, the iPhone 16 base model outsold either of the Pro variants in Q1.

Apple leads the global smartphone market

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iPhone 16e standing up vertically on a pine table surface, used to illustrate an iPhone 16e review
iPhone 16e helped propel Apple to the top of the world smartphone market.
Photo: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac

For the first time ever, Apple has claimed the global smartphone crown in the opening quarter of the year, thanks largely to the success of its iPhone 16e, according to data released Monday by a market analysis firm. With a strategic push into emerging markets and a rare off-cycle product launch, the tech giant surged past Samsung in Q1 2025 — a shift in the high-stakes battle for mobile dominance.

Apple sales grew during the period, while those of its chief rival Samsung dropped.

Average iPhone selling price tops a whopping $900

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iPhone Series 16 day in photos
Shoppers bought heaps of iPhone Pro models in 2024.
Photo: Apple

 If you paid $900 for your iPhone, then you paid less than the global average, according to a new analysts’ report. That’s because the average selling price for iOS devices grew 25% over the last four years, even as the number of handsets Apple sold also increased.

There’s been a trend for several years of greater demand for Apple’s more expensive iPhone Pro models, and that’s driving up ASP. Apple continues to push innovation, including features like Adaptive Audio AirPods, which were recently highlighted in this Spike Jonze short film.

Today in Apple history: iPhone sales hit first speed bump

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iPhone 7
Some feared we officially hit "peak iPhone" in 2016.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

January 26: Today in Apple history: iPhone sales hit first speed bump as sales flatline for first time January 26, 2016: After nine years of spectacular growth, iPhone sales flatline for the first time. Some call the sales plateau means “peak iPhone” has finally arrived.

Numbers posted by Apple show that during the final three months of 2015, iPhone sales grew by only 0.4%. The crucial holiday season sales compare quite unfavorably with the 46% jump recorded during the same period a year earlier.

Increasingly budget-conscious consumers pick iPhone 16 over 16 Pro

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iPhone Series 16 day in photos
Shoppers considering the basic iPhone vs. the Pro went for the cheaper option more often.
Photo:

When buying an iPhone 16 series model in the December quarter, a higher percentage went for Apple’s cheapest variant than they in the previous year, according to a market research firm. The basic iPhone 16 even beat out the 16 Pro.

Some of that growth was siphoned from the 16 Pro Max, just not quite enough to keep it from being Apple’s most popular during last quarter. And sales of older models without Apple Intelligence also lost ground.

iPhone sales slip a bit, but there’s also good news for Apple [Updated]

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iPhone Series 16 day in photos
iPhone 16 got off to a slow start.
Photo:

iPhone sales dropped in 2024 compared to the previous year, according to separate reports released Monday by a pair of market research firms. Still, Apple shipped more handsets last year than any other company, including arch-rival Samsung.

And 2024 brought strong sales growth in Apple’s non-core markets. Premium iPhone models are selling well in China, too.

Expect dismal iPhone sales but hints of AI in Apple quarterly results

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Wall Street thinks Apple is just limping along
Wall Street thinks Apple is about to announce weak results, but AI could bring a turnaround.
Photo: Anna Nekrashevich/Pexels

The first three months of 2024 were probably not good ones for Apple. When the company reveals the financial results from its March quarter on Thursday, analysts predict a 5% annual drop in revenue will be one of the announcements.

But part of the reason for weak sales is customers anticipating AI-powered iPhones and Macs later this year. CEO Tim Cook almost certainly will drop hints about what’s coming in a conference call also scheduled for Thursday.

iPhone shipments take a surprise nosedive

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The iPhone 15 Pro line comes in four finishes: black titanium, white titanium, blue titanium and natural titanium.
A surge in iPhone shipments in 2023 seems to have lead to a decline in demand in early 2024.
Photo: Apple

After a stellar 2023, iPhone shipments dropped 9.6% year over year in the first quarter of 2024, according to a market-research firm.

Archrival Samsung also saw a decline in smartphone shipments, but not as large as Apple’s. On the other hand, two Chinese phone-makers saw extremely strong growth last quarter.

Still big in Japan, iPhone slips in China

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iPhone 15 Pro in iPhone market outlook
Tuesday's iiPhone market outlook reports fell short of upbeat.
Photo: Apple

A flurry of iPhone market outlook reports shows Apple’s juggernaut handset is still the top-seller in Japan while slipping to fourth place in China so far in 2024. And that comes as Apple lowers component shipment targets for the year amid supply chain challenges, pointing to a possibly down year.

iPhone keeps on dominating US smartphone market

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iPhone 14 in purple
More people in the U.S. unboxed an iPhone than an Android last quarter.
Photo: Unsplash

iPhone shipments made up 55% of the U.S. smartphone market in the second quarter of 2023, according to a market-analysis firm. That’s the third quarter to a row that Apple handsets have made up more than half of the market.

iPhone shipments actually declined slightly in the April-though-June period, but not as much as some Android-makers — Samsung shipments dropped almost 40%.

Android tanks as iPhone shipments rise, especially in China

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iPhone 14 Plus
iPhone is selling well around the world. Android-makers can't say that about their products.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

iPhone shipments increased modestly in the first three months of 2023, according to a market research firm. That’s in stark contrast to Android-makers, most of which experienced double-digit drops.

The trend carried through in China, making Apple the largest smartphone seller in this critical market.

iPhone shipments drop but still top global phone market

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iPhone 14 Pro performance whips Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra
The iPhone 14 series propelled Apple past Samsung and other Android-makers in Q4 2022.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Apple was hit with a sharp decline in iPhone shipments in the December quarter, but the news isn’t all bad — it’s once again the world’s largest maker of smartphones by a wider margin than ever before, according to market analysts.

Even better, Apple is pulling in almost half the revenue of the entire global market, and a very large share of the profit.

iPhone shipments grow as rivals tank

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iPhone 14 could be a good upgrade for those coming from iPhone 11 or older (or to go with the big screen of the Plus without shelling out for the Pro Max).
iPhone 14 helped push up Apple handset shipments in Q3.
Photo: Apple

iPhone shipments grew in the July-through-September period compared to the same quarter of 2021. The increase was modest, but still put Apple on a different trajectory from other handset makers.

Shipments of iOS devices went up 1.6% while its biggest rivals all dropped, some quite significantly.

iPhone 13 dominates US smartphone shipments

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6.1-inch iPhone 13 review
Guess what's the best selling smartphone in America?
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

iPhones made up more than half of all smartphones shipped in North America during the second quarter of 2022, according to a market research firm. This marks the third quarter in a row that more than 50% of the handsets shipped in the region came from Apple.

Samsung, the next nearest rival, had less than half as many shipments in Canada, Unites States and Mexico.

iPhone shipments grow while smartphone market shrinks

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iPhone 13 Pro
The iPhone 13 sold well in Q2 2022.
Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

iPhone shipments grew 3.3% year over year during the second quarter of 2022, according to a market-research firm. That’s in contrast to the global smartphone market, which declined 7%.

Apple made up 16% of the total market, its highest second-quarter performance in more than a decade.

iPhone pulls in double the revenue of any rival

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iPhone shipments grow while Android tanks
Apple takes in far more revenue from iPhone sales than any Android-maker.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

Everyone knows that Android outsells iPhone, but that’s not the whole picture. Apple takes in a lot more revenue than any rival smartphone-maker. It’s more than double Samsung’s, and no other company gets even that close.

And in the quarter before that, iPhone pulled in more revenue than all its rivals combined.

iPhone shipments grow while Android tanks

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iPhone shipments grow while Android tanks
iPhone shipments increased in Q1 2022. Android did not.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

The global market for Android phones shrank considerably in the first quarter of 2022, even as iPhone shipments rose.

Shipments from every major Android maker declined, from Samsung on down. Their combined drops were enough to reduce world smartphone shipments in Q1 by around 10%.

Lightning strikes for Apple again, but storm clouds are on the horizon

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Apple warns that supply chain constraints will take a heavy toll in coming months.
Apple warns that supply chain constraints will take a heavy toll in coming months.
Photo: Raychel Sanner/Unsplash License/Cult of Mac

The first three months of 2022 were good to Apple, with revenue setting a quarterly record. But the company warned on Thursday that problems getting components and assembling products will take a nasty chunk out of revenue for the current quarter. The hit will to be between $4 billion and $8 billion.

But there’s also plenty of good news in from the conference call CEO Tim Cook had with investors after Apple’s March quarter results were announced.

Despite headwinds, Apple sails to another record-breaking quarter

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Another blockbuster quarter for Cupertino: Apple reports recording earnings for Q2 2022.
Can anything slow Apple down?
Image: Trac Vu/Unsplash License and Cult of Mac

Apple brought in $97.3 billion in revenue during the January-to-March period. That’s a new record for March-quarter revenue. And it’s an increase of 9% over the same period of 2021.

The company also set March-quarter records for iPhone, Mac, wearables and more.

iPhone dominates 2021’s top-selling phones

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iPhone 12 review
Globally, more iPhone 12 units sold in 2021 than any other model.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

No less than seven of the ten best-selling phones in 2021 were made by Apple. What’s more, all of the top five models were iPhones.

The iPhone 12 topped the list by a significant margin.

Here’s everything you need to know about Apple’s biggest quarter ever

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Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Apple achieved its
Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Apple achieved its "biggest quarter ever," Tim Cook said
Photo: Elena Mozhvilo/Unsplash license

Apple sold a crazy number of iPhones and Macs during the December quarter. And the result is what CEO Tim Cook called the company’s “biggest quarter ever.”

Take a deeper dive into the details to see how Apple was so very successful.

44% of iPhone users already plan to upgrade to iPhone 13

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This concept image shows how the iPhone 13 notch might shrink.
A smaller notch isn’t the feature most potential iPhone 13 buyers are looking forward to. Not even close.
Artists concept: Cult of Mac

Apple has yet to unveil the iPhone 13 but a survey shows that nearly half of current iPhone users are ready to upgrade. The potential buyers are making the decisions are apparently based on rumored features, and the survey totals which ones people are most looking forward to.