Samsung leads Apple in smartphone shipment market share, according to data from Counterpoint Research, and while this may appear good news for the brand, a deeper examination into two very different strategies indicates Samsung may not be happy with the situation at all. For the first three months of 2025, Samsung controlled 20% of the global smartphone market by device shipments, followed by Apple with 19%. This is “sell in” data, meaning devices purchased from the manufacturer by distributors. It is a considerable change over the data from the last three months of 2024, where Apple led with 23% of the market followed by Samsung with 16%.
This is crucial to understanding why Samsung may be looking at the latest figures, which on the outside appear positive, with concern. At the end of 2024 Apple would have been riding high on the release of the iPhone 16 series, while Samsung would have been far removed from the Galaxy S24 series and the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6’s release. It makes sense for Apple to command a higher market share right after the release of its flagship devices for the year.
Samsung has retaken control of the global market share leaderboard in early 2025 with the release of the Galaxy S25 series, but it has not extended a commanding lead over Apple. It hasn’t taken any further market share compared to the same period in 2024 either, when it also had 20% share following the Galaxy S24’s release. At the time, Apple trailed at 17% market share.
No success for the Galaxy S25?
The Galaxy S25 series hasn’t given Samsung the lead it will have likely wanted to see over the competition. It has also returned the same performance, in terms of shipments, as it did with the Galaxy S24’s release at the beginning of 2024. One of the complaints many have with the Galaxy S25 series is the devices aren’t dramatically different to the Galaxy S24 series, and the lack of growth compared to last year seems to reflect this.
While Samsung hasn’t changed things much, Apple changed its strategy at the beginning of 2025, and it appears to have paid off. The Apple iPhone 16E arrived at the end of February, an unusual time for Apple to release a new mobile device, and Counterpoint Research indicates it has been a considerable success.
“It was rare for Apple to have a new product launch in Q1, but the new iPhone 16e helped the brand gain share in certain markets like Japan,” wrote analyst Jene Park. “Apple was the top brand during Q1 in terms of unit sales, [and its] performance was stronger than any other first quarter before and it. The iPhone 16 series is showing strong demand in emerging markets where Apple grew in double digits.”
All bad news for Samsung?
The data from Counterpoint Research likely doesn’t fully cover the release of Samsung’s own mid-range phones, the Galaxy A56 and Galaxy A36. They are unlikely to gain as much attention as the iPhone 16E — a phone anticipated by many for several years — but are consistently popular throughout their life span. The new devices may help perk Samsung’s market share up over the next few months, as interest in the iPhone 16E naturally wanes.
However, the data does suggest the Galaxy S25 hasn’t captured as much attention as the iPhone 16E, and that’s not a good look for Samsung’s flagship phone range. This is despite Samsung’s claim S25 pre-orders in South Korea beat the record set by the Galaxy S23 series. Note the Galaxy S24 had not claimed the pre-order record. The data shows how people have reacted to two different strategies — the launch of a mid-range phone, and a reliance on AI to shift devices.
Samsung has pushed its Galaxy AI suite of features hard with the Galaxy S25, and while they operate well, not everyone will find them useful everyday. Because the hardware isn’t all that different to the Galaxy S24, fewer people may have upgraded if features like the Now Brief didn’t appeal. We’ll watch with interest what happens with the Galaxy S26 series, as Samsung may look at the S25’s performance and decide it’s time for a strategy change of its own, which may result in more dramatic hardware upgrades than we’ve seen over the past few years.
