Seven out of the ten bestselling smartphones in 2025 were iPhones, reports a market research firm, including all of the top four. But it’s not a Pro model that was the No. 1 seller, nor was it the cheapest. It was the base iPhone 16.
Those strong sales powered iPhone to the top of the global market overall. Apple outsold all rival smartphone makers last year, according to a separate report.
iPhone 16 dominates global smartphone sales
Apple is a premium smartphone maker, up against myriad companies that make low-cost Androids. It also has to compete against Samsung, which makes its own premium models. iPhone beats every one of them.
In a list of the top 10 best-selling smartphones in 2025 compiled by Counterpoint Research, the base iPhone 16 took the top spot by a wide margin. It was followed by the iPhone 16 Pro Max and iPhone 16 Pro in a virtual tie.
All three of those were on the market for all of 2025, but the iPhone 17 Pro Max only launched in Q3 and it still made the No. 4 best-selling smartphone of the entire year, outselling every Android. The base iPhone 17 was No. 7.
Chart: Counterpoint Research
“Apple maintained a strong presence in the Top 10 rankings, with the iPhone 16 leading and further widening the gap with the next positions,” said Counterpoint research analyst Harshit Rastogi. “The iPhone 17 series achieved 16% higher sales than the predecessor series during its first full quarter in the market, driven by strong initial demand in key markets such as the US, China and Western Europe. The base iPhone 17 model has been the standout performer this year, offering significant upgrades like a higher refresh rate, increased RAM and larger base storage, bringing it closer than ever to the Pro variants.”
Those looking for somewhat more affordable options from Apple put the base iPhone 15 at No. 8 and the iPhone 16e at No. 10 on the global best-seller list.
Samsung does its best
Samsung was other only other smartphone maker to break into the top 10. Two of its bargain A-series models — Galaxy A15 5G and Galaxy A06 4G — reached No. 5 and No. 6, respectively, according to Counterpoint.
Only one premium Android was on the chart, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.
Apple and Samsung dominated the top 10 list for the fourth consecutive year, with these 10 models making up 19% of the overall smartphone sales in 2025.
Apple wins the 2025 global smartphone market
Apple sold more smartphones than ever before in 2025 as iPhone shipments grew 7% to 240.6 million units, according to the analysts at Omdia. This let the company maintain the title as the world’s largest smartphone vendor for the third consecutive year.
The holiday shopping quarter was especially strong, “with Apple notably posting 26% year-on-year growth in Mainland China driven by stronger iPhone 17 series demand,” noted Omdia.
Rival Samsung was a close second in 2025 sales.
Strong iPhone 17 sales are expected to enable Apple to announce record-breaking profits on Thursday.
Ed Hardy has been writing full-time about tech for 25 years, and using it for much longer than that. His intro to Apple was a Macintosh Classic II (which he still has), but now he uses a 13-inch iPad Pro as his primary computer. He’s written for NotebookReview, TabletPCReview, and Brighthand, as well as other sites.
