{"id":238702,"date":"2026-01-17T22:13:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T22:13:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/238702\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T22:13:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T22:13:12","slug":"global-smartphone-shipments-rise-2-3-in-q4-2025-samsung-and-apple-lead-the-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/238702\/","title":{"rendered":"Global smartphone shipments rise 2.3% in Q4 2025: Samsung and Apple lead the market"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a id=\"elk-af96341b-52e3-4f32-a7f2-b50cc89207c0\" data-url=\"\" href=\"\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\"\/>What you need to knowGlobal smartphone shipments rose by 2.3% YoY in Q4 2025, totaling 336.3 million units.Samsung shot up as one of the strongest performers, shipping 61.2 million units and contributing to 18.2% of the total global market share.Apple leads with 24.2% market share, while Chinese brands face new challenges amidst rising competition.<\/p>\n<p id=\"56a796a0-4296-47f1-9e22-734cb037acbf\">The holiday season seems to have worked in favor of the global smartphone market as shipments climbed by 2.3% YoY in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to preliminary <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.idc.com\/resource-center\/press-releases\/q425mobilephonetop5\/\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.idc.com\/resource-center\/press-releases\/q425mobilephonetop5\/\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">data obtained by International Data Corporation <\/a>(IDC). Despite the ongoing industry issues, like memory chip shortages, unprecedented tariffs, and other disruptions, the smartphone market seems to have ended the year strong.<\/p>\n<p>In total, 336.3 million smartphones were shipped globally during the quarter, bringing the full-year shipments to roughly 1.26 billion units, which is a 1.9% increase from the same time last year.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of positive numbers, Samsung shot up as one of the strongest performers, shipping 61.2 million units and contributing to 18.2% of the total global market share. IDC says that Samsung delivered its best in Q4 since way back in 2013, all thanks to &#8220;strong sales of its <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.androidcentral.com\/phones\/samsung-galaxy\/samsung-galaxy-z-fold-7-camera-comparison\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.androidcentral.com\/phones\/samsung-galaxy\/samsung-galaxy-z-fold-7-camera-comparison\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Galaxy Z Fold 7 <\/a>and affordable AI-enabled <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.androidcentral.com\/samsung-galaxy-a-series-buyers-guide\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.androidcentral.com\/samsung-galaxy-a-series-buyers-guide\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Galaxy A-Series devices,&#8221; <\/a>the report stated.<\/p>\n<p>You may like<\/p>\n<p class=\"vanilla-image-block\" style=\"padding-top:56.25%;\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/JYtVp5RFXoN5Yz3j97Ug6T.jpg\" alt=\"Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 review\"   loading=\"lazy\" data-new-v2-image=\"true\" data-original-mos=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/JYtVp5RFXoN5Yz3j97Ug6T.jpg\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/JYtVp5RFXoN5Yz3j97Ug6T.jpg\" class=\"inline\"\/>\n<\/p>\n<p>(Image credit: Andrew Myrick \/ Android Central)<\/p>\n<p id=\"67786122-d37e-494e-a4f6-263a256c5c20\">Samsung&#8217;s new foldables basically contributed to Samsung&#8217;s <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.androidcentral.com\/phones\/samsung-had-four-best-selling-smartphones-in-q3-2025-and-none-were-flagships\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.androidcentral.com\/phones\/samsung-had-four-best-selling-smartphones-in-q3-2025-and-none-were-flagships\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">strongest Q3 in years<\/a>, and the Galaxy Z Fold 7 sales in the US exceeded the Z Fold 6 by 50% within the same timeframe after launch. It also became the fastest-selling Galaxy Fold in Western Europe, selling more than double the units of the Z Fold 6 in its first four weeks. Giving the Korean OEM a 64% <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/counterpointresearch.com\/en\/insights\/global-foldable-smartphone-market-q3-2025\" data-url=\"https:\/\/counterpointresearch.com\/en\/insights\/global-foldable-smartphone-market-q3-2025\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">hold on the global foldable market<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.androidcentral.com\/tag\/apple\" data-auto-tag-linker=\"true\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.androidcentral.com\/tag\/apple\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Apple<\/a> continued to hold its place at the top of the board, shipping over 81.3 million units, contributing to 24.2% of the global market share. Which hints at the fact that people are certainly reaching for high-end premium devices, according to Nabila Popal, senior research director for Worldwide Client Devices, IDC.<\/p>\n<p class=\"vanilla-image-block\" style=\"padding-top:56.25%;\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/rJvVpDUxbrefEXSr368SVm.png\" alt=\"Worldwide Smartphone Market Grows 2.3% in Q4 2025, Driven by Strong Performances from Samsung and Apple, according to IDC\"   loading=\"lazy\" data-new-v2-image=\"true\" data-original-mos=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/rJvVpDUxbrefEXSr368SVm.png\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/rJvVpDUxbrefEXSr368SVm.png\" class=\"inline\"\/>\n<\/p>\n<p>(Image credit: IDC)<\/p>\n<p id=\"57e681ed-90ce-4366-882c-1b8acbeeca57\">Chinese brands like Xiaomi held onto their third place with 37.8 million shipments, but the brand faced a YoY decline amid challenges like higher price points and competition from other brands within the country. Vivo and OPPO both held onto 8% of the market, shipping 27 million and 26.9 million units, respectively. IDC noted that Vivo&#8217;s growth was due to its sales and performance in India, while OPPO&#8217;s was bolstered by its new launches in China.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"elk-seasonal\" class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\" data-url=\"\" href=\"\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"57e681ed-90ce-4366-882c-1b8acbeeca57-1\">Meanwhile, other brands like Google, Motorola, Honor, etc that fall under the &#8220;others&#8221; category, accounted for 30.4% of the total market, down from 31.9% in the same period the previous year (4Q24).<\/p>\n<p class=\"newsletter-form__strapline\">Get the latest news from Android Central, your trusted companion in the world of Android<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What you need to knowGlobal smartphone shipments rose by 2.3% YoY in Q4 2025, totaling 336.3 million units.Samsung&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[342,111,139,69,145],"class_list":{"0":"post-238702","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-mobile","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz","12":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}