iPhone 17 surge helps Apple lead China smartphone shipments in late 2025

Apple iPhone 17

• Apple led China's smartphone market in Q4 2025 with 22% share and 28% shipment growth.
• Strong demand for iPhone 17 Pro models drove Apple’s resurgence in China
• Huawei topped China’s market for 2025; Apple led globally with 19.7% share

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Apple emerged as the leading smartphone vendor in China during the fourth quarter of 2025, according to new data from Counterpoint Research, marking a significant turnaround after lagging local competitors earlier in the year.

China’s smartphone market continued to contract during the period, with shipments falling 1.6% year over year in Q4 and declining 0.6% for the full year. Counterpoint attributed the slowdown largely to weaker consumer demand, driven by rising handset prices linked to higher memory chip costs and ongoing supply-chain pressure.

Against that backdrop, Apple’s performance stood out. The company’s iPhone shipments in China grew 28% year over year in the holiday quarter, allowing Apple to secure a 22% market share and take first place for the quarter. This resurgence was powered primarily by strong demand for the iPhone 17 lineup, which accounted for around 20% of Apple’s China shipments during Q4. Counterpoint noted that consumer interest skewed heavily towards the Pro models.

Apple also benefited from an accelerated supply ramp-up towards the end of the year, enabling it to meet holiday demand more effectively than some rivals that were constrained by component shortages. That execution advantage proved crucial in a quarter where availability played an outsized role in market performance.

Not all models performed equally well. The iPhone Air struggled to gain traction in China, capturing only a low single-digit share of Apple’s shipments following its debut. Counterpoint attributed the muted response to a later launch compared with other regions, as well as perceived compromises between the phone’s ultra-thin design and its overall feature set.

Despite its strong fourth-quarter showing, Apple did not lead China’s smartphone market for the full year. Huawei retained the top position in 2025 with a 16.4% market share, followed closely by Apple and vivo at roughly 16% each. Xiaomi and Oppo rounded out the top five, each with market shares of around 15%.

On the global stage, Apple continued to hold its lead. Data from IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker shows that global smartphone shipments reached 1.26 billion units in 2025, up 1.9% year over year. Apple shipped 247.8 million iPhones during the year, securing a 19.7% global market share, with shipments growing 6.3% year over year. Samsung followed closely with 241.2 million units and a 19.1% share, while Xiaomi ranked third despite a year-over-year decline.