A new market intelligence report shows that Apple dominated the best-selling smartphone rankings for 2025, and the base model iPhone 17 stands out for its position in the top 10.

iPhones filled seven of the top ten positions, with Samsung not making an entry until #5 …

Counterpoint Research published its latest market estimates. Since it’s measuring sales for the whole of 2025, it’s no surprise that it’s the iPhone 16 rather than 17 which comes out ahead.

• iPhone 16
• iPhone 16 Pro Max
• iPhone 16 Pro
• iPhone 17 Pro Max
• Galaxy A16 5G
• Galaxy A06 4G
• iPhone 17
• iPhone 15
• Galaxy S25 Ultra
• iPhone 16e

What’s notable, however, is that the base model iPhone 17 took 7th place. This contrasts with the iPhone 16 managing only 10th place in 2024, and very much reinforces the widespread view that the base 17 is the model to buy unless you specifically need one of the pro features. It’s the reason we crowned it as “the best overall iPhone in years.”

Counterpoint echoed our view on this.

The iPhone 17 series achieved 16% higher sales than the predecessor series during its first full quarter in the market, driven by strong initial demand in key markets such as the US, China and Western Europe. The base iPhone 17 model has been the standout performer this year, offering significant upgrades like higher refresh rate, increased RAM and larger base storage, bringing it closer than ever to the Pro variants.

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