Apple's iPhone just did something it never has before

It has already been a good year for the iPhone. We saw the launch of the iPhone 16e – a new device which takes the ethos of the iPhone SE and turns it into a fully-fledged member of the iPhone number-series family.

But it's not just the new handset which will have Apple fans excited. Data from Counterpoint suggests that Apple had the biggest market share of any phone brand in Q1. That has never happened before, making it a significant moment for the industry.

So, how did this happen? Well, as ever, there are a number of different factors to be aware of. First and foremost, there's the aforementioned iPhone 16e. While there's no data on sales of individual models, it certainly could have contributed to some additional growth.

Of course, the other thing worth mentioning is the effects of tariffs. While the data collected covers a time before the most dramatic changes happened in that regard, fear of an imminent price rise may have spurred users to upgrade earlier than they otherwise would have.

The other factor which has affected things is a sharp decline in sales for Samsung. The Korean brand usually tops the Q1 charts, but suffered slightly thanks to the delayed launch of the Samsung Galaxy S25 series, which appears to have postponed sales somewhat.

Ultimately, its still an impressive moment. The rigidity and regularity of the release schedules for both Apple and Samsung means that these analyses have rarely yielded anything we couldn't have guessed.

Seeing such a shift will undoubtedly have sparked some conversations within these brands, and I think that will be good for the industry as a whole. It's no secret that innovation has stagnated somewhat, and hopefully this will spur some extra work to make things more appealing for consumers.