Ranked: The Biggest Smartphone Brands in 2010 vs. 2025

How Smartphone Leadership Changed Since 2010

Key Takeaways

• Apple and Samsung are the only smartphone makers to rank among the world’s top five in both 2010 and 2025.

• The top five accounted for 68.2% of global smartphone shipments in 2025, down from 79.6% in 2010.

• Three Chinese brands rank among the top five in 2025, compared with none in 2010.

Fifteen years ago, the global smartphone market looked almost unrecognizable by today’s standards. Nokia was the world’s largest smartphone maker, BlackBerry ranked second, and Apple was in third place.

This visualization compares the five largest smartphone companies by worldwide shipments in 2010 and 2025, showing how dramatically the industry’s leading players have changed.

Smartphone Shipments Have Quadrupled in 15 Years

The data comes from the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. Figures represent worldwide shipments of new smartphones, with 2025 figures considered preliminary.

Global smartphone shipments rose from 302.6 million units in 2010 to 1.26 billion in 2025, making the market roughly four times larger in 15 years.

That growth was accompanied by a major reshuffling of the companies at the top.

RankCompanyShipments (2010)Market share

1 Nokia100.2M33.1%

2 RIM (BlackBerry)48.7M16.1%

3 Apple47.5M15.7%

4 Samsung23.0M7.6%

5 HTC21.5M7.1%

RankCompanyShipments (2025)Market share

1 Apple247.8M19.7%

2 Samsung241.2M19.1%

3 Xiaomi165.3M13.1%

4 vivo103.9M8.2%

5 OPPO102.0M8.1%

Only Apple and Samsung Remain in the Top Five

Apple and Samsung are the only members of the 2010 top five still in the ranking. Apple moved from third to first over the period, while Samsung climbed from fourth to second.

Their shipment volumes also grew substantially. Apple went from 47.5 million smartphones in 2010 to 247.8 million in 2025, while Samsung rose from 23.0 million to 241.2 million.

As smartphone production data from the past decade shows, both companies have remained near the top even as the competitive landscape around them changed.

The contrast with Nokia is particularly stark. The Finnish company held 33.1% of the smartphone market in 2010 but no longer ranks among the world’s five largest vendors.

Chinese Brands Now Hold Three of the Top Five Spots

No Chinese company ranked among the world’s five largest smartphone makers in 2010. By 2025, Xiaomi, vivo, and OPPO occupied third through fifth place and collectively accounted for 29.4% of worldwide shipments.

Xiaomi’s trajectory is particularly notable. The company was founded in 2010, the first year shown in this comparison, and released its first smartphone in 2011. By 2025, it ranked third globally with 165.3 million shipments and a 13.1% market share.

The Top Five Control a Smaller Share of the Market

The five leaders controlled 79.6% of global shipments in 2010. In 2025, their combined share fell to 68.2%.

At the same time, the “Others” category grew from 61.7 million smartphones to 400 million, increasing its share of global shipments from 20.4% to 31.7%. The smartphone market is far larger than it was in 2010, while a greater share of shipments now comes from companies outside the five largest vendors.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

If you enjoyed this visualization, check out Ranked: The 15 Best-Selling Mobile Phones of All Time on the Voronoi app.

Source: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/how-the-worlds-biggest-smartphone-brands-changed-since-2010/