Apple Set to Become World’s Top Phone Maker, Overtaking Samsung

Apple Inc. iPhone 17 Pro series smartphones displayed at one of the company's stores in Mumbai.

Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg

Apple Inc. will retake its crown as the world’s largest smartphone maker for the first time in more than a decade, lifted by the successful debut of a new iPhone series and a rush of consumers upgrading devices, according to Counterpoint Research.

The iPhone 17 models introduced in September have been a hit both domestically in the US and in Apple’s other critical market, China. They’ve enticed more people to upgrade, leading to double-digit year-over-year sales growth in both markets, according to the researchers. The US company also is benefiting from a cooling of US-China trade tensions and a depreciating dollar that has boosted purchases in emerging markets, they added.