Who Sells More Flagship Phones - Apple or Samsung?
Much of the analysis of Apple in the US smartphone marketplace involves comparing iOS and Google’s Android mobile operating system. Of course, Apple remains principally a hardware manufacturer, so comparisons to other hardware manufacturers also makes sense.
Samsung is the dominant Android brand in the US market, and therefore is the most valid comparable. While Samsung sells more smartphones in the US, Apple actually sells more of the newest, high-priced models.
Samsung has the largest market share in the US, at 38% of smartphone sales in the most recent twelve-month period. Apple is not far behind with 33%. Both have larger market shares than all other smartphone brands combined (Chart 1).
Chart 1: Share of US smartphone sales (12 months ending March 2024)
Which models these two leading brands sell matters, too. Apple sells more of its most expensive phones than does Samsung. Specifically, almost two-thirds of Apple iPhone sales are the most recent, premium model lineup, compared to less than half for Samsung (Chart 2).
Chart 2: Sales of “flagship” phone models (12 months ending March 2024)
For Apple, we define “flagship” as the most current model family. For the twelve-month period ending March 2024, this means the four iPhone 15 models (15, Plus, Pro, and Pro Max), and the similar iPhone 14 models in the months prior to the September 2023 launch of the iPhone 15 models.
For Samsung, we define “flagship” as the Galaxy S23 and then S24 models, the Flip, and the Fold. The S23 and S24 models include Plus, Ultra, and base variants. As with Apple, the prior year models continue to be sold after the introduction of the new models, though at reduced prices and then are no longer considered “flagship” phones. In addition, both brands continue to sell two and three-year-old former flagship models, plus the entry-level iPhone SE for Apple, and a variety of popularly priced alternatives from Samsung, some with “A” designation to differentiate them from the premium “S” models.
While iPhone SE and other legacy models account for about one-third of new iPhones sold in the US, the older Galaxy S phones and all of the A and similar models make up the majority of Samsung unit sales. In fact, if we do the math, Apple sells more units of its newest phones in a given year than Samsung.