Xiaomi beats Apple: Shifts in the smartphone market

The smartphone market isn’t especially fragmented when it comes to operating systems. There are de facto only two mainstream mobile platforms: iOS and Android. Apple’s iOS is exclusive to the company’s devices, whereas Android and Android-based operating systems are a standard choice for most other phone manufacturers. New data from Canalys and Omdia reveals that Android continues to dominate the European smartphone market, and a major shift has occurred in the rankings of top smartphone makers.

In particular, Xiaomi managed to overtake Apple in the second quarter of 2025 in terms of shipment numbers. Of course, it’s worth noting that sales figures don’t entirely reflect market share (i.e. user base), which is influenced not only by its cumulative sales but also by how long users keep their devices on average.

According to the analysis, Xiaomi devices accounted for 23% of all smartphones sold in Europe during the second quarter of 2025, representing an annual growth of 11%. Apple isn’t too far behind with a unit share of 21%, though its sales figures dropped by 4%. In the meantime, Samsung continues to lead the market by securing 31% of smartphone sales across Europe, despite a negative annual growth of 10%. Further down the list are Lenovo and Realme, with unit shares of 5% and 4%, respectively. That said, Realme certainly has the potential to overtake Lenovo: The brand posted an annual growth of 5%, whilst Lenovo saw an 18% decline over the same period.