Apple's iPhone Overtakes Android In US Sales For The First Time Since 2012
Apple, in its flush of new, bigger iPhone 6 handsets, has been selling record numbers of its older and newer model smartphones in the last few months, and now it's passed another significant milestone …
Context & Ripple Effects
This milestone caps a quarter-long run: Kantar had already reported Apple gaining share in nearly all markets on the strength of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus for the three months ending November 2014 (share gains across nearly all markets), and a month after this story Apple went on to beat Samsung in global Q4 2014 smartphone sales for the first time since 2011 (global Q4 win over Samsung) — though Samsung still led for 2014 as a whole.
Why it matters: the US was the last market where Android's volume advantage held, and the big-screen iPhone removed the main reason buyers defected to Android. The pattern proved durable — Apple repeated the vendor overtake in Q4 2020 per Gartner (80M iPhones sold in Q4 2020) and Counterpoint later measured the iPhone installed base crossing 50% of the US market in Q2 2022 (installed base passing 50%).
First-order effects
- Samsung loses the quarterly volume crown in Apple's biggest market just as its own flagship cycle is between launches, forcing it to defend the premium tier with the Galaxy S line rather than screen-size differentiation.
- US carriers absorb a surge of iPhone 6/6 Plus upgrades, shifting subsidy and installment-plan spending toward Apple devices during the holiday quarter.
Second-order effects
- Android OEMs competing in the US premium segment lose the large-screen argument that had been their clearest selling point, pushing them toward price competition below the iPhone's tier instead.
- App developers and publishers see iOS revenue share in the US rise faster than unit share, because the buyers switching are concentrated in the high-spending premium tier.
Third-order effects
- If each large-screen iPhone cycle repeats the pattern, the US market structurally tilts toward an Apple-majority installed base over time — which is exactly what Counterpoint measured seven years later — leaving Android vendors to compete primarily on mid-tier volume.
- A durable iOS majority in the US strengthens Apple's platform leverage over developers, carriers, and regulators, since policy debates about app distribution weigh a dominant domestic incumbent rather than a two-sided duopoly.
The trend: Every major iPhone redesign reopens the US sales race with Android, and each cycle leaves Apple with a higher installed-base floor than the last.