8 out of 10 of the world’s best-selling phones are iPhones.

It turned out a lot of smartphone shoppers wanted to visit Apple’s Dynamic Island

Eight out of ten of the world’s best-selling smartphones are iPhones, according to the latest Counterpoint data, which shows only Samsung making the top table.

Apple sweeps the board (again)

The data tracks what you might expect. Leading the pack in terms of iPhone sales in 2022 sits the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro Max in first and second place.

“For the first time, a Pro Max variant drove more volume than the Pro and base models,” said Counterpointin its annual Global Handset Model Sales Tracker for 2022.

The iPhone 14 Pro Max (which was enormously popular) achieved third place in the three months it was on sale, with the Galaxy A14 taking fourth place with around 1.6% of sales.

A little model information

Returning to iPhone 13, the report notes:

• iPhone 13 contributed 28% of iPhone sales.
• Was best-selling smartphone in China, US, UK, Germany, and France.
• Was number one each month since launch.
• Price reductions on the model after the iPhone 14 family was introduced drove sales in developing markets.
• iPhone 13 sold twice as many units as iPhone 13 Pro Max.

But the iPhone 14 Pro Max was a high achiever and as suspected was the top-selling iPhone model for three months after launch, driving lots of upgrade traffic. People want to live on Apple’s Dynamic Island, which is expected to come to all iPhone models later this year. The iPhone 12 continues to sell well, while iPhone SE 2022 took tenth place with strong sales in Japan.

The big insight

What of Android?

It’s really only Samsung, which grabbed two slots with its entry-level phones, particularly in the Caribbean and Latin American markets, as well as in India and the MEA.

But perhaps the biggest insight is hidden at the end of Counterpoint’s announcement, where the analysts observe that the number of active smartphone models sold in the global market has declined dramatically, from 4,200+ in 2021 to around 3,600 in 2022.

That’s important as it reflects the grim economics of the Android business and represents a move by brands to reduce what they sell to optimize their business.

That’s a positive for Apple, of course, which has somehow managed to navigate extreme competition and still build leadership ever since Android turned up on the scene and Google’s CEO was removed from the Apple board.

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