The iPhone Models Boosting Apple's Market Share
On June 29 2007, Apple released the first iPhone, around six months after Steve Jobs introduced the product during a Macworld Expo. After a slow start in the year of its release, almost ten percent of globally shipped smartphones were made by Apple in 2008. As our chart based on data from IDC shows, events such as new iPhone launches have previously managed to drive up the global shipment share growth.
The first, as already mentioned was the original iPhone, which helped propel Apple smartphones to a shipment share of around 15 percent. The second bigger boost was achieved with the iPhone 4 and 4S in 2010 and 2011, respectively. The device introduced the, according to the standards of the time, groundbreaking "Retina Display", a front-facing camera as well as a new form factor. The iPhone 4 stayed in circulation longer than most Apple smartphones despite recurring issues with signal strength and other hardware problems, being phased out in September 2013 with the advent of the iPhone 5.
After a slump in shipment shares, the iPhone brand received another leg-up in 2014 when Apple released the iPhone 6 and 6S. On its first weekend alone, Apple sold ten million units of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, setting a new company record which was toppled by the 6S and 6S Plus one year later.
In 2020, the launch of the iPhone 12 range saw another boost, which helped the tech company achieve a 17.3 percent share of global shipments in 2021, second only to Samsung regarding big-name brands.
More recently, the IDC revealed that Apple made 232.1 million smartphone shipments in 2024, accounting for 18.7 percent of the global market share - placing it in first position. The next most prominent companies were Samsung (18 percent in 2024) and Xiaomi (13.6 percent). The IDC adds that despite Apple and Samsung both coming in leading positions last year, they each saw year-on-year declines due to the growth of Chinese vendors.
According to data by Counterpoint, Apple’s iPhone 16 was the best-selling smartphone in Q1 2025, performing well in Japan and the Middle East and Africa.