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Apple Set a European iPhone Sales Record Last Year

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Apple shipped 36.9 million iPhones in Europe in 2025, a 6% year-over-year growth which allowed the company to claim a record 27% share of the region's smartphone market, according to new research from analytics firm Omdia.

Apple-iPhone-16-family-lineup.jpg

The gains came even as the broader European smartphone market declined by 1% to 134.2 million units, which Omdia says was weighed down by softer demand and new regulations around eco-design requirements and mandatory USB-C ports.

Apple's performance was driven by the iPhone 16, the Pro Max versions of both the iPhone 16 and iPhone 17, and the more affordable iPhone 16e. The latter device in particular apparently helped Apple capture demand that shifted away from older non-USB-C models, which were being phased out under the new rules.

Samsung held onto the top spot in Europe with 46.6 million units shipped, while Xiaomi came third with 21.8 million units at 16% share. Elsewhere, HONOR broke into Europe's top five for the first time.

omdia-iphone-sales-europe-20251.jpg

Apple's record European performance was clearly a factor in its strong global showing in 2025, when the company became the world's largest smartphone vendor by annual shipments.

Article Link: Apple Set a European iPhone Sales Record Last Year
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/02/24/apple-european-iphone-sales-record-2025/
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IMO 17 series is overall one of the best recent series for its time.
base with 120Hz and double storage at same MSRP and pro with finally a new design and strong performance improvements at the same time.

Not really surprising if you ask me - especially when the 16 series was more incremental than 17 series. At least shareholders get the memo that Apple Intelligence BS is not enough to sell phones
 
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MangoAvocado said:
It seems all the regulation has not slowed them down over here.
Click to expand...
In my opinion, all that regulation isnt effecting EU customers that much after all. I wouldnt have noticed anything, if i wouldnt follow apple news closely.
Biggest Festure we dont have in the EU is probably iPhone mirroring.
 
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We needed some of our older iPhones for our production area - we need Explosion Protection for devices used in the production and an Android device with protection costs around $3,500, and isn't even current generation hardware. A case for an iPhone costs around $1,000...

We have a lot of contract iPhones, but nobody ever bothers getting them upgraded, so we had some iPhone SE 1st gen, iPhone 6S and a few between that and the 11. We replaced everything that was upgradeable with 16s and kept the phones that were still in support and bought the cases for them, so that added quite a few phones to the total, even if they weren't new "customers", if only a small drop in the ocean, compared to the total.
 
Just my personal observation, but on public transport in Paris, you see mostly iPhones. All models, even the 17 lineup is prominent. No surprise here.
 
antonrg said:
Just my personal observation, but on public transport in Paris, you see mostly iPhones. All models, even the 17 lineup is prominent. No surprise here.
Click to expand...

Paris is the city of luxury. It would be interesting seeing the distribution across capital cities in the EU.
 
Perversely, the EU's meddling could have increased Apple's sales. Forcing them on to USB-C removed a deal-breaker that was the lightning port improving the device in the process. Lightning was a deal-breaker for me, at least.

The interoperability that the EU is encouraging also helps Apple as it removes more barriers to purchase and ownership.

Apple with their anti-competitive mindset could not see this at first but maybe they are coming round. Seeing AirDrop open up to other platforms and RCS interoperability being good examples of this.

Rather than walling people in, the opening up is actually allowing others to come in and join the party.
 
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Whats-a-computer? said:
In my opinion, all that regulation isnt effecting EU customers that much after all. I wouldnt have noticed anything, if i wouldnt follow apple news closely.
Biggest Festure we dont have in the EU is probably iPhone mirroring.
Click to expand...
on top of that, regulations or not a lot of features are anyway delayed in Europe.. now they just blame the EU instead of just saying not available there
 
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I think what drove sales was the fact the iPhone 17 eliminated one notable problem: the limited 60 Hz display. Indeed, it's that very feature change was why the iPhone 17 "regular" model became so immensely popular in China.
 
MacRumors said:


Apple shipped 36.9 million iPhones in Europe in 2025, a 6% year-over-year growth which allowed the company to claim a record 27% share of the region's smartphone market, according to new research from analytics firm Omdia.

Apple-iPhone-16-family-lineup.jpg

The gains came even as the broader European smartphone market declined by 1% to 134.2 million units, which Omdia says was weighed down by softer demand and new regulations around eco-design requirements and mandatory USB-C ports.

Apple's performance was driven by the iPhone 16, the Pro Max versions of both the iPhone 16 and iPhone 17, and the more affordable iPhone 16e. The latter device in particular apparently helped Apple capture demand that shifted away from older non-USB-C models, which were being phased out under the new rules.

Samsung held onto the top spot in Europe with 46.6 million units shipped, while Xiaomi came third with 21.8 million units at 16% share. Elsewhere, HONOR broke into Europe's top five for the first time.

omdia-iphone-sales-europe-20251.jpg

Apple's record European performance was clearly a factor in its strong global showing in 2025, when the company became the world's largest smartphone vendor by annual shipments.

Article Link: Apple Set a European iPhone Sales Record Last Year
Click to expand...
Does this mean that some low end phones are not in the market? And for people buying new phones, iPhones are more competitive? I'm not in the EU, so don't know the market.

PS Was surprised that phone in Paris are more commonly iPhones; not my experience visiting maybe 10 years ago.
 
Sigsgaard said:
Who'd thunk it - it pays off to follow the rules 🫨
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They aren’t following the rules. They are regulated into submission. But I think this popularity has little to do with the DMA and more to do with Apple being a well liked platform.
 
I7guy said:
They aren’t following the rules. They are regulated into submission.
Click to expand...
Not really.

It beggars belief that they were hanging on to the lighting port when the market was screaming at Apple for USB-C. Apple eventually complied with the EU demand and their sales WENT UP as a result. It's a win/win if you ask me.

Supporting RCS and allowing AirDrop interoperability does not hurt Apple but instead opens up new opportunities as it removes what are deal-breakers for many people (outside the USA).

Openness is good for business.

Yes, the EU can be a right pain in the backside sometimes but they were right on this one.
 
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