SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 19, 2026, 07:31 (PST)
- Apple and Samsung finished 2025 virtually tied at the top of global smartphone shipments, with Apple narrowly ahead by some trackers.
- Holiday-quarter demand lifted volumes, even as parts constraints and higher component costs tightened supply.
- Analysts see 2026 as tougher, with memory shortages and pricing pressure hitting low- and mid-tier phones first.
Apple (AAPL.O) ended 2025 as the world’s top smartphone vendor by shipments, edging Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) in a year of modest market growth, preliminary IDC data showed. Apple shipped 247.8 million phones for a 19.7% share, just ahead of Samsung’s 241.2 million and 19.1%, as total 2025 shipments rose 1.9% to about 1.26 billion units. “Apple maintained its leadership for the third consecutive year,” IDC’s Nabila Popal said. (IDC)
Why this matters now: the lead comes as the supply squeeze on key parts intensifies, with memory — especially DRAM, or dynamic random access memory used for a phone’s working memory — back in focus. U.S. chipmaker Micron said it would pay $1.8 billion for a Taiwan fabrication site from Powerchip, aiming to boost DRAM wafer output from the second half of 2027, a long runway that underlines how tight the market has become. (Reuters)
Omdia, another market tracker, said Apple led the market in the fourth quarter with a 25% share and finished 2025 marginally ahead of Samsung, even as rising memory costs began to bite. “Apple recorded its highest-ever fourth-quarter shipment volumes in 4Q25,” Omdia analyst Sanyam Chaurasia said. “DRAM supply tightness has added considerable supply-side pressures,” said Omdia’s Runar Bjørhovde, calling it a key factor in 2026. (Omdia)
Counterpoint Research also put Apple on top for 2025, estimating a 20% share versus Samsung’s 19%, and said vendors pulled shipments forward early in the year to get ahead of tariffs. Counterpoint’s Tarun Pathak said the market could soften in 2026 as chip shortages and rising component costs push suppliers to prioritise AI data centres over handsets. (Reuters)
The numbers circulated again on Monday in industry coverage, including a WebProNews report that highlighted Apple’s narrow edge over Samsung after a year of tight competition at the top. (WebProNews)
“Shipments” measure phones shipped into the retail channel, not actual sell-through to consumers. That can make the race look stronger than demand on the ground if vendors build inventory ahead of launches or price moves.
But the gap is thin, and the rankings can shift as firms revise estimates and as vendors adjust channel stock after the holiday rush. If parts shortages deepen — or if higher bills of materials translate into higher sticker prices — the downside lands fastest on lower-priced models where buyers are more sensitive to even small increases.
For Samsung, the late-2025 lift came as it leaned on foldables and cheaper AI-enabled models, while Apple rode iPhone 17 demand and a rebound in China, IDC said. Chinese brands stayed in the chase behind them, with Xiaomi, vivo and OPPO filling out the next tier of the global top five.
The fight in 2026 looks less like a pure product cycle and more like supply and pricing discipline. Vendors are already talking more openly about trade-ins, bundled services and configuration tweaks — small levers, but sometimes the only ones left when memory and other components get tight.
