IDC’s smartphone shipment report for 2025 is out, and the overall takeaway is that the market remained mostly stable, both globally and in China. There wasn’t any major growth in shipments, but much of the momentum came from consumers shifting toward higher-end devices like foldables, which is a positive sign.
China’s smartphone shipments in 2025
China’s smartphone market remained largely flat toward the end of 2025. The market traded around 75.78 million units of smartphones, which is a 0.8% decline year-on-year.
For the full year, smartphone shipments in China totaled approximately 285 million units. But the shipments are still 0.6% less compared to 2024.
As for the brands, Huawei, Apple, and Vivo make up the top three of the leaderboard. The brands shipped a combined total of 139 million smartphone units.
However, Apple was the only one to record year-on-year growth at 4 percent by shipping 46.2 million units. Huawei and Vivo, meanwhile, posted declines of 1.9 percent and 6.6 percent, respectively.
Xiaomi and Oppo round out the top five, with a year-on-year increase in market share by 4.3 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively.
Global smartphone shipments in 2025
The global market, on the other hand, saw a modest but consistent growth. In the fourth quarter, the shipment volume reached 336.3 million units, up 2.3% year-on-year. Meanwhile, in the whole of 2025, global shipments totaled 1.26 billion units, which is a 1.9% increase.
Much of that growth came from the high end of the market. Apple and Samsung were the fastest-growing brands with growth rates of 6.3 percent and 7.9 percent, respectively.
Commendable for Apple is the fact that it’s the world’s top smartphone market for the third year in a row. Samsung also saw a record growth since 2013, largely thanks to foldables and the affordable Galaxy A lineup. Together, Apple and Samsung now make up for 39 percent global smartphone market share, up from 37 percent in 2024.
However, Chinese brands faced challenges in the global market. Xiaomi, Vivo, and Oppo largely held their positions but saw slight declines in market share. Xiaomi’s fourth-quarter shipments fell by double digits as it navigated a shift toward higher-end devices and tougher competition in China, though it still finished the year as the world’s third-largest vendor.
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