Apple’s latest iPhone models are on display at its Regent Street store in London on the launch day of the iPhone 17.
Arjun Kharpal CNBC
Apple will hit record levels of iPhone shipments this year, driven by the latest models and a resurgence in its key market of China, market research firm IDC predicted.
The company will ship 247.4 million iPhones in 2025, up just over 6% from last year, IDC predicted in a report Tuesday. That’s more than the 236 million units sold in 2021, when the iPhone 13 was launched.
Apple’s forecast increase is “thanks to the phenomenal success of its latest iPhone 17 series,” Nabila Popal, senior research director at IDC, said in a statement, adding that in China “massive demand for the iPhone 17 has significantly accelerated Apple’s performance.”
Analysts use the term “shipments” to describe the number of devices that a provider sends to its sales channels such as e-commerce partners or stores. They do not correspond directly to sales, but rather indicate a company’s expected demand for its products.
When the company launched in September, investors saw the iPhone 17 series as a key package for Apple, which faced increasing competition in China and raised questions about its artificial intelligence strategy as Android rivals surged.
Apple’s shipments in China are expected to rise 17% year over year in the fourth quarter, IDC said. The market research company thus forecast market growth of 3% for this year, compared to a decline of 1% previously forecast.
In China, local players like Huawei have taken market share away from Apple.
IDC’s report follows last week’s Counterpoint Research, which predicted that Apple will ship more smartphones than Samsung in 2025 for the first time in 14 years.
Bloomberg reported last month that Apple could delay the release of the base model of its next device, the iPhone 18, until 2027, breaking the regular cycle of releasing all of its phones each fall. According to IDC, this could mean Apple’s shipments could decline by 4.2% next year.
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