Apple's iPhone dominated U.S. smartphone market in 2021

The iPhone continues to be the most popular smartphone in the United States by some measure, analysts claim, with Apple dominating the market throughout 2021.

The United States is one of the most popular markets for the iPhone range, with it being a reliable major source of Apple's overall revenue. In analysis by Counterpoint Research, it appears that Apple practically consumed over half of the market for most of the last four quarters.

Data from the firm covering all of 2021 put Apple as holding just over 50% of smartphone shipments from Q1 2021 to Q4 2021. The year started with 55% of the market for Q1, amid a market that was growing 14% year-on-year.

The figure lowered slightly in Q2 to a 53% share, with Apple's shipments growing 38%, though iPhone SE shortages apparently "hindered prepaid growth." As a whole, the U.S. smartphone market's shipments grew 21% in the period,

By Q3 2021, the market slowed growth, increasing 1% year-on-year. While it had a 47% share of the market, Apple still saw year-on-year shipment growth of 19%, due to a strong launch of the iPhone 13 series.

U.S. Smartphone Market Share for Q3 2020 to Q4 2021 [Counterpoint Research]

In the fourth quarter, with industry shipments rising 10% YoY, Apple saw its hold of the U.S. market increase to 56%. While this does mean Apple held the majority of the market, it's still not as high as the 65% share it achieved in Q4 2020, one year prior.

Apple's nearest rival was Samsung, but it only peaked at a 34% share in Q3 2021, and shrank down to 22% in Q4. According to analysts, Samsung "could not replenish its S21-series fast enough," which resulted in the market share decline.

The iPhone is not only seeing considerable success in the United States. In January, Counterpoint claimed Apple had seen a resurgence in China, with its 23% market share in Q4 2021 its highest since Q4 2015.

9 Comments

jas99 168 comments · 11 Years

About 2 years ago

Time to sell all AAPL shares. Apple is doomed. It can’t POSSIBLY grow any more. It’s about to go out of business.

That’s what your financial advisor will tell you.

I hope everyone is smarter than that.

highframerate 40 comments · 2 Years

About 2 years ago

jas99 said:

Time to sell all AAPL shares. Apple is doomed. It can’t POSSIBLY grow any more. It’s about to go out of business.

That’s what your financial advisor will tell you.

I hope everyone is smarter than that.

Bitter, resentful comments like this have been on this board for years. But has anyone actually produced a quote from a reputable analyst or mainstream news source that has said anything like this in over 10 years?

Please, do not cite people claiming "a specific Apple product is likely to struggle" (which happened with the iPhone 12 Mini, HomePod and Apple TV) or "Apple wll face competition" (as they do because no single product - not even the Apple Watch - enjoys 50% market share and most have less than 1/3 share) as "Apple is doomed."

Apple has had around 50% domestic market share and 15% global market share for the iPhone since around 2012. It isn't 2005 anymore where Apple had 3% PC market share with the bulk of their revenue coming from iPods and iTunes (on Windows!) downloads. At some point this victimization act that Apple fans put on has to end.

Beats 3073 comments · 4 Years

About 2 years ago

highframerate said:

jas99 said:

Time to sell all AAPL shares. Apple is doomed. It can’t POSSIBLY grow any more. It’s about to go out of business.

That’s what your financial advisor will tell you.

I hope everyone is smarter than that.

Bitter, resentful comments like this have been on this board for years. But has anyone actually produced a quote from a reputable analyst or mainstream news source that has said anything like this in over 10 years?

Please, do not cite people claiming "a specific Apple product is likely to struggle" (which happened with the iPhone 12 Mini, HomePod and Apple TV) or "Apple wll face competition" (as they do because no single product - not even the Apple Watch - enjoys 50% market share and most have less than 1/3 share) as "Apple is doomed."

Apple has had around 50% domestic market share and 15% global market share for the iPhone since around 2012. It isn't 2005 anymore where Apple had 3% PC market share with the bulk of their revenue coming from iPods and iTunes (on Windows!) downloads. At some point this victimization act that Apple fans put on has to end.

Everyone was going crazy when Tim warned Apple may not have a record-breaking quarter. That was about 2 years ago?

Everyone was laughing at Apple and saying the iPhone was too expensive that’s why Cook warned investors. Really stupid.

maximara 409 comments · 15 Years

About 2 years ago

Beats said:

highframerate said:

jas99 said:

Time to sell all AAPL shares. Apple is doomed. It can’t POSSIBLY grow any more. It’s about to go out of business.

That’s what your financial advisor will tell you.

I hope everyone is smarter than that.

Bitter, resentful comments like this have been on this board for years. But has anyone actually produced a quote from a reputable analyst or mainstream news source that has said anything like this in over 10 years?

Please, do not cite people claiming "a specific Apple product is likely to struggle" (which happened with the iPhone 12 Mini, HomePod and Apple TV) or "Apple wll face competition" (as they do because no single product - not even the Apple Watch - enjoys 50% market share and most have less than 1/3 share) as "Apple is doomed."

Apple has had around 50% domestic market share and 15% global market share for the iPhone since around 2012. It isn't 2005 anymore where Apple had 3% PC market share with the bulk of their revenue coming from iPods and iTunes (on Windows!) downloads. At some point this victimization act that Apple fans put on has to end.

Everyone was going crazy when Tim warned Apple may not have a record-breaking quarter. That was about 2 years ago?

Everyone was laughing at Apple and saying the iPhone was too expensive that’s why Cook warned investors. Really stupid.

To be fair to Cook, since Apple is a publicly traded company, he had to give a 'heads up' to any possible problems even. Have you looked at the stock market? The average investor has no clue and tends to panic.

Beats 3073 comments · 4 Years

About 2 years ago

maximara said:

Beats said:

highframerate said:

jas99 said:

Time to sell all AAPL shares. Apple is doomed. It can’t POSSIBLY grow any more. It’s about to go out of business.

That’s what your financial advisor will tell you.

I hope everyone is smarter than that.

Bitter, resentful comments like this have been on this board for years. But has anyone actually produced a quote from a reputable analyst or mainstream news source that has said anything like this in over 10 years?

Please, do not cite people claiming "a specific Apple product is likely to struggle" (which happened with the iPhone 12 Mini, HomePod and Apple TV) or "Apple wll face competition" (as they do because no single product - not even the Apple Watch - enjoys 50% market share and most have less than 1/3 share) as "Apple is doomed."

Apple has had around 50% domestic market share and 15% global market share for the iPhone since around 2012. It isn't 2005 anymore where Apple had 3% PC market share with the bulk of their revenue coming from iPods and iTunes (on Windows!) downloads. At some point this victimization act that Apple fans put on has to end.

Everyone was going crazy when Tim warned Apple may not have a record-breaking quarter. That was about 2 years ago?

Everyone was laughing at Apple and saying the iPhone was too expensive that’s why Cook warned investors. Really stupid.

To be fair to Cook, since Apple is a publicly traded company, he had to give a 'heads up' to any possible problems even. Have you looked at the stock market? The average investor has no clue and tends to panic.

I know. But it was overblown as “Apple is doomed” everywhere. I remember the “doomed” quarter was Apple’s 2nd biggest ever at the time.