When it comes to the US smartphone market, Apple is an undisputed leader, with Samsung holding the second position. While Samsung is putting efforts into expanding its business stateside, it is proving to be a difficult task. The company saw a drop in its US smartphone sales in Q1 2025, according to a report from Counterpoint Research.
Samsung’s flagship device sales dropped in the US in Q1 2025
The overall US consumer smartphone sales declined 2% in Q1 2025 compared to the same time last year. The premium segment (phones priced above $800) suffered a bigger decline of 4% YoY, primarily due to poor sales of Galaxy flagships. So, while Samsung saw strong sales in the global smartphone market in Q1 2025, it failed to improve its sales in the US.
Well, Apple’s flagship phones also saw a decline in sales, but its newly launched iPhone 16e helped the company increase its share within the US postpaid channels. As a result, Apple’s share among the top three US carriers (Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile) increased to 72% in Q1 2025 from 70% in Q1 2024.
To boost premium device sales, US carriers offered strong promotions. “We have seen some of the largest promotional offers ever for smartphones in Q1 2025. Verizon and AT&T both had promo offers to get the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra for free in Q1, something which had never before happened with a Galaxy Ultra device. This shows an increased urgency by carriers to draw customers to premium devices and newer service plans,” said Senior Research Analyst Maurice Klaehne.
Despite these offers, Samsung struggled to match Apple’s momentum. Apple gained from the combined strength of its flagship and mid-range offerings, while Samsung’s high-end phones faced weaker demand. The report adds that total device sales for the top three US carriers stayed relatively flat YoY. Even though AT&T and T-Mobile saw slight increases in smartphone sales (up 5% and 2% respectively, Verizon’s 6% drop in sales offset those gains.
As of now, there is a lot of uncertainty in the US smartphone market due to the US reciprocal tariffs. It will be interesting to see how the market shapes up through the rest of 2025.
