DIGITIMES' study shows that in the third quarter of 2025, global smartphone market demand continued to recover, but worldwide shipments increased only 0.5% year-over-year to 299.5 million units.
Looking ahead to the fourth quarter of 2025, due to weaker demand in the China market compared to the same period in 2024 and limited recovery in markets outside China, global shipments are forecast to grow by just 0.1% on year.
Compared with the August 2025 forecast of 1.9%, DIGITIMES revised the full-year 2025 global smartphone shipment growth rate upward to 2.3%. The main reason for this revision was stronger-than-expected demand recovery in markets outside China during the second half of the year.
Chart 1: Key factors affecting 2H25 smartphone shipments in global market
Chart 3: Shipments in China and non-China markets, 2Q24-4Q25 (m units)
Chart 6: Shipments in China and non-China markets, 2023-2025 (m units)
Chart 7: Global 5G smartphone shipments and share, 2021-2025 (m units)
Chart 8: 5G smartphone shipments by China and non-China markets, 2023-2025 (m units)
Chart 9: Global GenAI smartphone shipments, 2023-2025 (m units)
