3 Minutes
Europe's smartphone landscape looked familiar at first glance: Samsung at the top, Apple chasing, and a handful of challengers carving out niches. But the numbers tell a subtler story about shifting momentum, brand strategy and where consumer appetite really landed in 2025.
Samsung shipped 46.6 million phones across Europe (excluding Russia) last year, claiming roughly 35% of the market. Apple wasn’t far behind — 36.9 million units and about a 27% share — while Xiaomi moved 21.8 million devices for a 16% slice. Motorola and Honor rounded out the top five with 7.7 million (6%) and 3.8 million (3%) shipments respectively, the latter entering the European top five for the first time.
Growth, however, wasn’t evenly distributed. Apple and Honor were the rare winners among the big names, each expanding sales versus 2024 — Apple by 6% and Honor by 4% — and both achieving their strongest-ever performances on the continent. Xiaomi slipped slightly, down 1%, and Motorola contracted 5%. Outside the top five, brands such as Nothing and Fairphone posted double-digit increases, signaling room for niche players to prosper even as the overall market cooled.
Speaking of cooling: Europe’s smartphone volume dipped about 1% year-over-year, settling at 134.2 million units. That still represents roughly 10.8% of global smartphone shipments, so while growth has slowed, Europe remains a significant battleground for handset makers.
The closing months of 2025 reified Apple’s holiday strength. In Q4 alone, Apple shipped 13.4 million units across Europe, taking a 34% seasonal share. Samsung delivered 12.4 million in the same period, about 31%. Xiaomi, Motorola and Honor followed, but the most notable seasonal riser was Honor — up 24% compared with Q4 2024. Motorola rose 13% and Samsung 10% in the quarter-on-quarter comparison, underscoring that promotional windows and new-model cycles still flip market momentum quickly.
At the device level, the Galaxy A56 was Europe’s best seller for 2025, followed by Apple’s iPhone 16 and Samsung’s Galaxy A16. The top ten list was dominated by just two ecosystems: six iPhones and four Samsungs, with no other brand managing comparable inventory movement. Xiaomi, which had a presence in the 2024 top ten with the Redmi Note 13 4G, didn’t place a model in 2025 — a small data point that underscores how concentrated demand has become at the very top.
So what does this mean for the year ahead? Market share paints one picture; momentum paints another. Samsung maintains scale and distribution. Apple converts headline features into steady sales. Honor is proving it can break through in Europe. And smaller brands are finding pockets of appetite where differentiation — whether sustainability, design or niche tech — matters. Expect competition to intensify where margins exist, and for market composition to keep shifting as prices, supply and carrier strategies evolve.
Which brand will rewire the next chapter of European smartphone demand? Keep watching the charts — the leaders may be steady, but the story is far from finished.
Source: gsmarena
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