Samsung and Apple Split Last Year’s Smartphone Market, but Their Strongholds Differed

According to Financial News, Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics continued to lead the global smartphone market last year, while clear regional differences emerged in brand preference.
Market research firm Counterpoint Research reported on the 20th that among six regions—North America, Latin America, Europe, China, Asia-Pacific (excluding China), and the Middle East and Africa—Samsung Electronics ranked first in unit sales in Latin America and the Middle East and Africa.
In Latin America, the Samsung Galaxy A06 4G, Samsung Galaxy A16 4G, and Samsung Galaxy A15 4G took the top three spots in sales.
In the Middle East and Africa, the Samsung Galaxy A16 4G and Samsung Galaxy A06 4G placed first and second, respectively.
Apple Inc. held the lead in sales in North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region.
In Europe, the iPhone 16 5G, iPhone 16 Pro 5G, iPhone 16 Pro Max 5G, and iPhone 17 5G occupied the top four spots, while the Samsung Galaxy S25 ranked fifth. Europe is known for its strong preference for premium smartphones, with such devices estimated to account for more than 60% of total smartphone shipments in the region last year.
In North America, Apple products took the top four positions, followed by the Samsung Galaxy A16 5G in fifth place.
In the Asia-Pacific region, including China, iPhone models filled all of the top five spots by sales. China, Japan, and India are among Apple’s largest markets outside the United States. In Japan, the budget-friendly iPhone 16e was particularly popular, with more than one-third of the model’s global sales last year coming from Japan. Counterpoint Research estimated that the Asia-Pacific region accounted for half of global smartphone shipments in 2024.

mkchang@fnnews.com Min-kwon Jang Reporter