Apple Losing Smartphone Race To Rival

One of the best ways to determine how well Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhones are selling is to look at iOS’s proprietary operating system’s market share. Its only major global rival is Alphabet’s Android OS, which is used by most of Apple’s rivals around the world and by most major smartphone companies.

A new study from research firm IDC shows worldwide smartphone deliveries will rise 6% to 1.24 billion this year. Its experts state, “This strong growth follows two years of steep declines and is fueled by pent-up demand for device upgrades.” Upgrades because of GenAI have not affected this increase. GenAI’s presence in phones came too late in the 2024 cycle. However, IDC expects this software to be in 70% of smartphones shipped in 2028. That is likely good for Apple because of its new AI Apple Intelligence product.

IDC reports that Android shipment growth will hit 7.6% this year, and iOS shipments will rise by .4 %. This slow increase is primarily due to slow growth in the US and China, Apple’s two largest iPhone markets based on revenue.

Apple is expected to do better in 2025. iOS shipments are expected to grow by 3.1%, while Android shipments are only expected to increase by 1.7%. IOS is bad news for Apple shareholders this year, but better news in 2025.