Skip to main content

iPhone 7 was the best-selling phone worldwide in the first few months of the year

how to sync your Outlook calendar to an iPhone
Image used with permission by copyright holder
The Apple iPhone has a long way to go before it’s the most popular phone around the world, but if these latest reports are anything to go by, the phone is gaining in popularity in some pretty key markets — like, for example, urban parts of China.

According to a report from Kantar Worldpanel, the iPhone 7 was the top-selling phone in the first quarter of the year in most of the regions that the agency tracks, including the United States, Europe, and more. In the top five European markets, Apple climbed up a nice 2.4 percent in market share, now sitting at 22.7 percent of the market — a market that also has many much less expensive phones on offer. Android also posted a pretty hefty market share increase in almost all markets except the U.S., showing that more and more people are adopting the smartphone.

The report focuses on in interesting point: Android and iOS are growing in market share, and as such are pushing out other operating systems, like Windows Phone. In many markets Windows Phone has less than a 1 percent market share, and in the U.S. the operating system sits at 1.3 percent market share — down from the 2.6 percent market share it had at the start of 2016.

One of the most popular markets for Apple is actually Australia — and in the country Apple sits at a hefty 42.4 percent market share, which is slightly higher than its market share in the U.S. Neither of those two countries are Apple’s best market, though. That prize is reserved for Japan, where Apple holds a whopping 49.5 percent of the market.

When it comes to China, Apple’s market share fell by 8.4 percent, according to the report. That figure, however, includes a large number of phones being sold in more rural areas, where many users are buying phones for the first time. That said, in “urban China,” which refers to China’s major cities, the iPhone 7 continued to be the top-selling smartphone.

The report continues on to talk about two “reborn” smartphone brands in Nokia and BlackBerry — but it notes that while those two companies made a splash in the market due to their retro styling, “no other ecosystem is challenging the two giants — iOS and Android.”

Then there’s the money aspect, and Apple is no slouch in that area either — in fact, the company collects the majority of profits in the market, and the report notes that it collected as much as 5.4 times the profits of Samsung.

Editors' Recommendations

Christian de Looper
Christian’s interest in technology began as a child in Australia, when he stumbled upon a computer at a garage sale that he…
Here’s how Apple could change your iPhone forever
An iPhone 15 Pro Max laying on its back, showing its home screen.

Over the past few months, Apple has released a steady stream of research papers detailing its work with generative AI. So far, Apple has been tight-lipped about what exactly is cooking in its research labs, while rumors circulate that Apple is in talks with Google to license its Gemini AI for iPhones.

But there have been a couple of teasers of what we can expect. In February, an Apple research paper detailed an open-source model called MLLM-Guided Image Editing (MGIE) that is capable of media editing using natural language instructions from users. Now, another research paper on Ferret UI has sent the AI community into a frenzy.

Read more
There’s a big problem with the iPhone’s Photos app
The Apple iPhone 15 Plus's gallery app.

While my primary device these days continues to be my iPhone 15 Pro, I’ve dabbled with plenty of Android phones since I’ve been here at Digital Trends. One of my favorite brands of phone has been the Google Pixel because of its strong suite of photo-editing tools and good camera hardware.

Google first added the Magic Eraser capability with the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, which is a tool I love using. Then, with the Pixel 8 series, Google added the Magic Editor, which uses generative AI to make edits that wouldn’t be possible otherwise. There are also tools like Photo Unblur, which is great for old photographs and enhancing images that were captured with low-quality sensors.

Read more
Why you should buy the iPhone 15 Pro Max instead of the iPhone 15 Pro
Someone holding an iPhone 15 Pro Max outside on a patio, showing the back of the Natural Titanium color.

If you want the best iPhone money can buy in 2024, you have two options: the iPhone 15 Pro and the iPhone 15 Pro Max. They have the same chipset, similar display technology, nearly identical cameras, etc. It's a really close battle, save for the fact that the iPhone 15 Pro is $200 cheaper.

It might be tempting to save some cash and choose the iPhone 15 Pro, but I recommend you splurge for the larger (and more expensive) iPhone 15 Pro Max. Why? Let me explain.
It's a big iPhone you won't hate using

Read more