The Galaxy A16 5G takes the crown as the best-selling Android phone of the quarter

Apple and Samsung have long battled for the top spot within the smartphone market, and although there’s never really been a clear winner, Counterpoint’s ‘Best-Selling Smartphone‘ report for Q3 2025 hints at a clear trend.

For the first time in a while, there’s been a complete shutout. Every single spot in the top ten list was occupied by either Apple or Samsung. However, there are other, more dramatic shutouts as well.

1. There’s no S-series Samsung device in the top 10.
2. The top four spots are occupied by Apple.
3. All Samsung devices that made their way to the top 10 are A-series devices.
4. Out of the five Apple devices that made their way to the list, the top four are all previous-generation iPhone 16 models.

Competition is vanishing

For reference, the same report from last year saw Apple and Samsung dominating the top ten, with the Redmi 13C 4G sneaking into the list. This time around, it’s a clear shutout from Samsung and Apple.

Similarly, last year, Samsung managed to sneak the S24 in as the only S-series flagship on the device. This time around, there’s no S-series device on the list. The list is dominated by the tech giant’s mid-range portfolio, including the Galaxy A16 5G, Galaxy A06, Galaxy A36, Galaxy A56, and the Galaxy A16 4G.

Elsewhere, despite all the hype around Apple’s iPhone 17 series, the iPhone 16 series remained king. This was expected, considering the iPhone 17 series only went on sale on September 19th. Despite that, the iPhone 17 Pro Max did make its way into the list at spot 10.

The base iPhone 16 was the best-selling iOS device for the quarter, while the Galaxy A16 5G was the best-selling Android device.

“The mid-price segment’s presence in the top-10 best-selling smartphones is expected to remain strong, driven by the growing integration of GenAI features,” wrote CounterPoint, likely pointing at Samsung’s suite of ‘Awesome Intelligence’ features like Object Eraser, Best Face, Nightography, and more. Not only does this indicate that the battle for the top ten is no longer a case of who has the best flagship — it indicates who offers the smartest value proposition — at least when it comes to Android devices.