Apple’s dominance in the global smartphone market continued well into the sunset era of 2024, but Samsung managed to make a breakthrough after a drought stretching all the way back to 2018. Counterpoint Research just released its latest Global Handset Model Sales Tracker report covering phones sold worldwide between January and November last year, showcasing Apple’s user dominance at the top despite the iPhone’s premium sticker price.
The iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPhone 15 Pro took the top three spots in the same order. The fifth, eighth, and ninth positions were grabbed by the iPhone 16 Pro Max, iPhone 14, and iPhone 16 Pro, respectively. The only other premium phone in the list came from Samsung, marking a crucial milestone for the company’s flagship Galaxy S line.
The year 2024 marked the first time that a Galaxy S series phone appeared in the global top-selling smartphone list after a gap of over half a decade. The Galaxy S24 Ultra’s impressive sales, according to Counterpoint, are a result of Samsung’s generative AI tools offering a new experience avenue for buyers.
“The growth can be attributed to it being the first smartphone with GenAI capabilities, generating significant consumer interest. Samsung’s emphasis on these innovative features has resulted in strong market performance and a first-mover advantage,” notes Counterpoint Research Analyst Harshit Rastogi in a press statement shared with Digital Trends.
A surprise win
Samsung was one of the first smartphone makers to make a big deal about generative AI experiences on smartphones. The company is currently marketing its stack as Galaxy AI, and doubled down on it with the arrival of Galaxy S25 series earlier this year.
While generative AI tools haven’t quite managed to revolutionize the smartphone experience, and a healthy bunch of them are quite gimmicky, there are still a few tricks that can prove to be useful on a day to day basis.
For example, Samsung’s focus on accessibility, especially the live translation tools and interpreter mode, have been executed well. There are still some rough corners with understanding local accents, but the practical utility is definitely there.
“It’s designed to give people back time, and make people’s lives easier. It’s technology to help you live a better life.” Annika Bizon, Samsung’s senior director of marketing and omnichannel in the U.K. and Ireland, recently told Digital Trends.
For folks who prefer a splash of fun editing control over their photos, there are a whole bunch of AI-assisted tricks available for Galaxy S smartphone users. If you are intrigued to get a taste, Digital Trends put out an exhaustive guide on how to use those fun tools and what to expect.
Though it isn’t quite the best. In a side-by-side comparison with Apple’s own solution that arrived with Apple Intelligence, the iPhone’s take proved to be more accurate in Digital Trend’s testing. Notably, Apple’s arrival to the “AI Phone” race was quite late, and some its own servings, such as the news summaries, have been so terrible that the company had to put them on a pause.
Samsung, on the other hand, has only doubled down on its AI efforts. At the Unpacked event this year, the company introduced Now Bar and Now Brief, which essentially keep you updated on a whole bunch of stuff, from upcoming meetings and health stats to quick controls for a variety of activities.
Call Assist can translate voices in real time, while Chat Assist will do the same for text-based conversations. Browsing Assist will summarize web pages, Transcript Assist will work its magic (read: transcription, summarization, and translation) via the Recorder app. There are assistive writing tricks, a la Apple’s Writing Tools, in the Notes app.
Audio Eraser and Drawing Assist are among the new wave of AI features announced in 2025, both of which already have a counterpart within Apple’s phone and tablet ecosystems. Irrespective of whether the competition was first to these AI conveniences, it seems Samsung’s Galaxy AI focus has definitely struck a chord with Galaxy S buyers.
“In terms of use cases right now, these writing assistants, AI writing, those kind (sic) of tools are very helpful to them,” Tarun Pathak, Research Director at Counterpoint, said in an interaction with The Core earlier this year. He added that consumers are not excited about the whole AI bundle, but in the next few years, agentic AI might generate a meaningful shift.
