The smartphone market may seem like it’s completely saturated, and while it may be to a certain degree, there is still plenty of room for growth, as evidenced by a new report from IDC on 2025 smartphone growth figures, which were boosted by strong shipments of Apple’s latest iPhone models. Although iPhones aren’t the only driving factor in the growth of smartphone shipments for the year, they play a major role.
According to IDC, there are other factors, Android phones included. Strong iPhone shipments in the last fiscal quarter provide a boost. However, the growth was also impacted by stabilization in the Chinese smartphone market as well as rapid growth in key emerging markets. This has led to what IDC predicts will be a growth of 1.5% year-on-year. This is also up from its previous prediction of 1%.
Apple’s contributions to 2025 smartphone growth include 247.4 million iPhone units shipped
Apple has been a major contributor to smartphone shipments and growth on an annual basis for several years now. So, it shouldn’t be surprising to see that continue in 2025. While IDC doesn’t list the individual models that sold the most units, it does mention that the iPhone 17 was a huge growth factor for the company this year. Because of the iPhone 17 , Apple was able to reach more than 274 million iPhone units shipped in 2025.
What’s interesting is that IDC also tracks the annual growth rate by OS. Last year, Android and Harmony grew 7.9%, while iOS shrank by 0.5%, and the smartphone market as a whole grew by 6.2%. This year is vastly different. In 2025, Android and Harmony saw a much smaller growth rate of 0.4%. Meanwhile, iOS grew 6.5%, and the smartphone market as a whole grew 1.5%. It’s worth noting that these are all forecasts and not yet actual figures. They’re merely what IDC is predicting.
With that in mind, IDC is also predicting that the iOS market growth will shrink by 4.2% in 2027, while the smartphone market growth in general will shrink by 0.9% as a whole. Android and Harmony aren’t even listed on the graph. In 2028, things take an upward turn across the board. Android and Harmony growth is expected to increase by 2.4%, iOS by 5.4%, and the entire smartphone market by 3%.
