Samsung Scores Rare Victory Over Apple in Key Smartphone Market

Samsung led the global smartphone market in Q2 2025, shipping 58 million units, largely thanks to its diverse portfolio of Galaxy phones, ranging from affordable to ultra-premium. The Korean firm also managed to outsell its arch-rival Apple in the super-premium segment (above $800) in India, a key market for both companies. This is a rare victory for Samsung.

Samsung led the super-premium smartphone chart in India in Q2 2025

According to data from IDC, Samsung secured 49% market share in India’s super-premium segment in Q2 2025. The company saw this promising figure due to strong sales of the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S24 series. It marginally led Apple, which held a 48% share in this segment thanks to its iPhone 16 series.

While the margin was small, this shows Samsung is going in the right direction to challenge Apple in the premium segment. In July 2025, Samsung launched three high-end devices: Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE, Z Flip 7, and Fold 7. The foldable trio is getting a strong early response from consumers in India, suggesting their sales may contribute greatly to the Q3 2025 performance.

Speaking of the Indian market across all price segments, Samsung maintained its second position with a 14.5% share in Q2 2025. In comparison, the company secured a 12.9% share during the same period last year. Thanks to new smartphone launches across the Galaxy A, M, and F series with meaningful AI features, it saw 21% year-over-year growth. Vivo once again led the chart (for the sixth consecutive quarter) with 19% market share.

A previous report revealed that Samsung’s latest Galaxy S25 flagships (excluding the Edge model) sold 19.57 million units globally by the end of June. This is an 8.6% year-over-year increase compared to the Galaxy S24 series (sold 18.02 million units during the same period last year). It’s good to see that consumers are showing increasing interest in Samsung’s premium Galaxy devices globally.