iPhone 16 world’s top-selling phone of 2025...so far

Apple’s iPhone 16, the latest series in the iconic smartphone brand, was the world’s top-selling smartphone in the first quarter (January to March) of 2025. According to Counterpoint Research, the top ten bestsellers, except one from Xiaomi, were all from just the two top phone-makers in the world, Apple and Samsung.

This would be bittersweet to Apple and its embattled CEO Tim Cook, as the company faces one of the biggest challenges in its history thanks to its targetting by US President Donald Trump, who seems hell bent on imposing a 25% import duty on phones being manufactured elsewhere as early as from next month.

Unless Trump backtracks, Apple will be forced to either hike prices of the marquee phones in its home market, also the world’s biggest for smartphones, or settle for lesser profit margins – since the phones are manufactured in China and India, with local assembling in mainland USA.

In fact, Apple’s products have sheer dominance over the top ten phone bestseller list, with five of its models in the top ten. It is also the first time in two years than iPhone’s base variant is taking the top spot in Q1 sales.

The iPhone 16’s best performance was in Japan as well as in the Persian Gulf. Japan recording the highest growth in base variant sales. Improved economic conditions and revised subsidy regulations favoured Apple's pricing strategy and ecosystem, further strengthening its appeal in the Japanese market, according to Counterpoint.

The base model iPhone 16 was followed in the top ten by its compatriots iPhone 16 Pro Max and iPhone 16 Pro at No.2 and No.3. The Pro series faced issues in China due to government subsidies to cheaper handsets and the intense competition from premium smartphone brands of China like Huawei.

Despite this, Pro models continued to account for nearly half of Apple’s total iPhone sales for the third consecutive quarter, says Counterpoint.

While the top 10 smartphones’ share in overall global sales remained stable, the low-end  below 8,500 rupees or so) smartphones in the top 10 saw an increase in their contribution. The strong performance by Xiaomi’s Redmi 14C, the only model outside of Apple and Samsung to enter the Top Ten is symbolic of this strong demand for value-driven phone models, seen in emerging markets, as most of its sales were in Middle East, Africa and Latin America.

Sci/Tech