Apple Set Record for European iPhone Sales in 2025
Apple achieved a new sales record for iPhones in Europe during 2025, outpacing competitors in both sales volume and profit. The performance is attributed to factors like supply chain resilience and successful product feature integration. This result provides a clear example of how engineering execution can be directly linked to tangible business outcomes like market share growth.
- Apple's European shipments grew by 6% year-over-year in 2025, reaching 36.9 million units. This growth occurred even as the total European smartphone market saw a 1% decline, settling at 134.2 million units shipped. - The company achieved a record 27% market share in Europe for the year. In the fourth quarter of 2025 alone, Apple led the market with 13.4 million iPhones shipped, securing a 34% market share for the period. - While Apple saw significant growth, Samsung remained the largest vendor in Europe by volume, shipping 46.6 million units for a 35% market share. However, Samsung's top-selling model was the budget-friendly Galaxy A56, whereas Apple had six different iPhone models in the top 10 best-sellers. - Key drivers for the sales record included strong performance of the iPhone 17 series and the iPhone 16e. The iPhone 16e reportedly absorbed demand from users of older models that were discontinued due to the new EU regulations mandating USB-C ports. - Competitor Xiaomi experienced a 1% decline in shipments to 21.8 million units, while Honor entered the top five for the first time with 3.8 million devices shipped. This highlights a competitive landscape where Apple and Honor were the only top-five brands to record growth in 2025. - The strong performance in Europe was part of a global trend, as Apple also became the world's largest smartphone vendor by annual shipments for the first time in 2025. - Looking ahead, analysts caution that rising memory costs are expected to cause a significant downturn in the European smartphone market in 2026, which could impact future sales performance. - Apple's supply chain strategy in 2025 included a multi-year investment of over $500 billion in the U.S. to boost domestic manufacturing and AI infrastructure, alongside a "China Plus One" strategy to diversify production by increasing iPhone manufacturing in India.
