According to Omdia's latest report (dropped around late January 2026), the world shipped 1.25 billion smartphones in 2025-that's a 2% bump from the year before, and the best yearly total since 2021.
Pretty much every region grew except Greater China (mainly Mainland China), which dipped a bit because the big national subsidy push from earlier in the year lost steam. Still, people upgrading or replacing old phones kept things moving forward overall. Even with all the economic uncertainty floating around, a bunch of brands hit record numbers.
Apple had a monster year-iPhone shipments jumped 7% to 240.6 million units, setting a new personal best and locking in the #1 spot globally for the third year running. The fourth quarter was insane (their biggest single-quarter ever), and in Mainland China they shot up 26% thanks to huge demand for the iPhone 17 series.
Samsung finally bounced back after three straight years of drops, also up 7% and finishing just a hair behind Apple. Flagships held strong, and the cheaper end of the lineup recovered nicely-fourth quarter alone was up 16%.
Xiaomi hung onto third place, but it was a rougher finish. Entry-level stuff sold weakly and some big markets tanked in Q4, so shipments dipped 2% there.
vivo cracked the global top four for the first time, up 4% to 105.3 million units. India kept delivering for them, and things stayed solid at home.
OPPO rounded out the top five. First half was tough, but the new A6x series helped turn it around in Q4. Full year: 100.7 million units, down 3%.
Outside the top five, Honor grew 11% and Lenovo 6%, both hitting all-time highs by expanding aggressively in competitive markets.
Huawei kept climbing and snatched back the #1 spot in Mainland China for the first time in five years.
Nothing was the breakout story-shipments exploded 86% and crossed 3 million units, easily the fastest grower of the year.
That said, Omdia senior analyst Runar Bjorhovde pointed out that even though 2025 felt pretty good for most players, 2026 already looks shaky. Memory chips (DRAM, NAND, etc.) are getting way more expensive and supply's tightening up-vendors are stressing hard. That could eat into profits, force price hikes or spec cuts, and eventually turn buyers off.
Research manager Le Xuan Chiew (Zhou Le Xuan) added that with contraction probably coming in 2026, brands are going to obsess over making money and finding new ways to cash in. But the real focus still has to be on actual consumers-the way people decide to buy phones is changing fast. It's not enough to just know what they want anymore; you've got to figure out why they buy, how they get convinced, and hit those exact moments to actually close the deal.
Feels more like real talk now, right? No stiff corporate robot vibes.
