Smartphone market in Europe slips 2%, premium phones on the rise

Canalys just came out with its report on the European market for Q1 2025, which shows a modest decline in overall sales. The whole market slipped 2%, but there's a bit of nuance here.

Analysts reveal that vendors sold 32.4 million units, down from 33.1 million in Q1 2024, but about 32% of those sales were premium phones priced above €800. Of course, Apple and Samsung are the biggest winners here.

Apple scored a 10% increase in total sales year-on-year, securing second place with a 22% market share, while Samsung grew less than 1%. Nonetheless, Samsung sits atop the charts with a 37% market share and reached its highest-ever average sales price on the Old Continent.

Xiaomi takes the third spot with a 16% market share and a 2% decline in sales due to weak demand for budget devices. This marks the company's twentieth consecutive quarter in the top five in Europe.

Motorola and Google round out the top five. Q1 2025 was Google's first quarter in the top five in Europe, recording 0.9 million shipments and an outstanding 43% growth in the region.

Looking ahead, analysts believe that the strong demand for Samsung and Apple premium devices will continue and squeeze out the competition, while European regulations such as eco-design and battery directives will continue to create unfavorable market conditions for low-end devices. In fact, the forecast is a 3% decline in sales for 2025 with a modest recovery of 1% in 2026. Vendors will be forced to improve efficiency and profitability in the region to stay afloat.

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