Things are looking rosy for Apple, Samsung and other phone makers around the world, as the latest figures show just how well new models like the iPhone 17 have been selling.
The data comes from the latest Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker report from IDC. These reports come every three months, but this time of year is the most interesting, since it covers Apple's usual iPhone launch period, as well as big summer launches from other manufacturers, too.
As a headline figure, the report proclaims a 2.6% increase in phone sales compared to last year. 322.7 million phones shipped between the start of July and the end of September, according to IDC's information, compared to 314.6 million that moved in the same period last year. Not bad considering how unstable the global economy has been.
The report's authors point to premium phones as the reason for that success. Pre-orders for the iPhone 17 series were apparently strong, while Samsung's latest foldables, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7, overtook previous Z Fold/Flip generations, helping Samsung grow its market share the most out of the brands tracked in the report.
This feeds into the "innovative form factors and more affordable AI-enabled smartphones," named in the report, that have driven users to upgrade. Nabila Popal, senior research director for Worldwide Client Devices, also mentions that phone makers' well-designed finance and trade-in programs have been incentivizing upgrades too, by making the buying process as easy as possible.
It's not just the top of the smartphone market that's been seeing success. Xiaomi, and its Redmi and Poco subbrands, have been doing well in Europe and Latin America. Transsion, a brand you may not have heard of in Europe and the U.S., is doing big things in Africa with its budget devices. Meanwhile, Vivo has also been targeting developing markets by unveiling cheaper phones with plenty of AI features.
2025 isn't over yet, but the report concludes with a positive outlook for the end of the year. Especially with the help of discounts to encourage more users to take advantage of the great hardware on offer.
A good time to upgrade
Obviously, typical smartphone users don't care about the millions of phones sold around the world every month — just the one in their hand. But these sales indicate that, despite economic troubles, regular users like you or me are still finding reasons to upgrade.
We love the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Galaxy Z Flip 7, and every new iPhone, from the basic iPhone 17 to the top-tier iPhone 17 Pro Max, received impressive reviews. If users have been holding out on upgrading for an extra year or two, then 2025 has proven to be a great moment to finally pull the trigger on a purchase.
If you want to join the 320 million or so people who have been buying phones of late, we recommend you check our best phones guide as your first port of call. We have phones at all kinds of price points and with a variety of features that will hopefully suit your needs.
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