It took several years to find its stride, but Google Pixel is now finding success as, in the past year, it’s now the fastest-growing premium smartphone brand in the world.
According to new data from Counterpoint Research, the premium smartphone market is growing as of late, and Google Pixel is the fastest-growing segment. In the first half of 2025, compared to the first half of 2024, the premium smartphone market grew by roughly 8%. Keep in mind, this is the half of the year where fewer premum smartphones are launched, as the latest iPhone and other major launches tend to take place in the second half of the year.
Unsurprisingly, Apple took the biggest slice at 62%, with its shipments going up by 3%, but its share of the premium smartphone market dropping from 65% last year to 62% this year. Samsung maintained its second-place position at 20% on the back of an 8% increase in shipments during the first half – this is notably the time where the company’s Galaxy S flagship launches. Huawei and Xiaomi saw bigger jumps in shipments year-over-year, at 24% and 55% respectively. Huawei managed to capture 8% of the overall market, up from 7%.
But the big success story in this data is Google Pixel, which is by far the fastest-growing premium smartphone brand in the world right now.
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Counterpoint’s data reveals 105% year-over-year growth in the first half of 2025 for Google Pixel, a figure that the report attributes to “strong performance of the Pixel 9 series, expansion into newer markets and more aggressive marketing efforts.” It’s also noted that Google’s sales “doubled YoY.”
The report goes on to mention that “consumer confidence in Pixel devices is growing.”
Google broke into the top five premium smartphone brands after five years. Its sales doubled YoY, driven by strong performance of the Pixel 9 series, expansion into newer markets and more aggressive marketing efforts. Google has been focusing on differentiating its Pixel series by positioning it as AI-first devices with a clean software experience, rather than merely emphasizing hardware specifications. Consumer confidence in Pixel devices is growing.
This chart looks at phones that cost $600 or more on the global smartphone market
On top of its explosive growth, Google Pixel has cemented a spot in the top five smartphone brands in the world, at least in regards to premium devices. That’s no small feat, though Google’s marketshare is still well below that of the other top five brands.
Over the past year, we’ve heard a lot in regards to Google Pixel’s growth, including the brand taking a #4 spot in the US market, foldable success in Europe, a clear trend in US growth dating back to last year, and more.
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