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Global smartphone shipments witnessed a growth of 1 percent in the second quarter (Q2) 2025 from the same quarter last year, according to the International Data Corporation’s (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker report. The global market grew despite global uncertainty and weak smartphone demand in China, the report added. However, this is slightly lower than the 1.5 percent year-over-year (YoY) growth that the market saw in the first quarter (Q1) of 2025, which could be attributed to the “tariffs volatility”. The silver lining for Samsung and Apple is that the two still ship the most number of smartphones globally.
Performance of smartphone manufacturers in Q2 2025:
The preliminary data from the IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker report suggests that all the brands combined shipped 295.2 million smartphones globally in Q2 2025, up 1 percent from 292.2 million units in Q2 2024. Samsung alone shipped 58 million handsets, up from 53.8 million units it shipped in the same quarter last year. The South Korean tech giant retained its top spot by shipping the most number of smartphones globally, witnessing a 7.9 percent jump.
However, the Cupertino-based tech giant, Apple, only saw its shipments grow by 1.5 percent in Q2 2025 from last year, shipping 46.4 million units. Yet, the company retains second position on the table, commanding 15.7 percent of the global smartphone shipments in the quarter.
Vivo , on the other hand, continues to grow at a steady pace. The company shipped 27.1 million smartphones in Q2 2025, up 4.8 percent from 25.9 million in Q2 2024. In terms of YoY mobile shipment growth, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer came second, following Samsung’s massive lead. Additionally, Vivo has now gained the fourth position, up from fifth in Q1 2025.
It is important to note that these are preliminary numbers and are subject to change in the future.
Factors that influenced global smartphone shipments:
The quarterly report from IDC highlighted that although the growth in global smartphone shipments was relatively flat, the market remained positive. But the volatile trade tariffs, the current macroeconomic challenges like foreign exchange instability, unemployment, and inflation in several regions did have a negative impact on consumer demand for smartphones. Consumers, the report said, started deprioritising spending on phones, particularly on the lower end Android phones. This has weighed down on the overall growth of the global market.
On top of this, there has been a slump in demand in China. In Q2 2025, subsidies also failed to stimulate demand in the country, leading to it performing lower than expected. However, Apple was the best performer during the promotion period. Even after seeing a 1 percent YoY reduction in China in Q2 2025, its growth was bolstered by its performance in emerging markets, where it saw double-digit growth.
As per the report, Samsung managed to consolidate its lead in the smartphone market with the help of sales from Galaxy A36 and Galaxy A56 smartphones. The artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled features in mid-range handsets made consumers curious, potentially driving sales in retail stores.
