The Google Pixel is officially back in the top four in the US smartphone market, thanks to steady growth in Q2 2025. According to new numbers from Canalys (now part of Omdia), Google shipped 800,000 smartphones between April and June, giving it a 3% market share (via 9to5Google). That’s a 13% increase on the year, and just enough to top TCL, a primarily midrange and entry-level brand that saw its shipments slide 23% to around 700,000 units.
This shift makes the Pixel the fourth-most popular smartphone brand in the United States, although the gap between Google and Motorola, the least-selling member of the top three, remains huge.
Meaningful market movements
Apple slips as Samsung also surges
Apple still leads the pack by a wide margin, but the iPhone maker actually stumbled this quarter. Shipments dropped 11% year-over-year, landing at 13.3 million units. That’s down from 14.9 million in Q2 2024, and a sharp correction after Apple posted 25% growth in Q1 2025. Even so, Apple retains a dominant 49% market share.
Samsung, on the other hand, performed better than it has for nearly any quarter in the last few years. It shipped 8.3 million Galaxy smartphones, a 38% increase compared to last year. That was enough to boost its market share to 31%—the highest it’s been in several years—largely powered by Galaxy A-series sales.
Motorola also held its ground, shipping 3.2 million devices for a 12% share, a modest 2% year-over-year growth. Together, Apple, Samsung, and Motorola control over 90% of the US market, leaving only slivers for challengers like Google and TCL.
The Pixel’s growth is real, but cooling off a little
For Google, the Pixel’s climb back into fourth place is a win, but it comes with caveats. At 3% of the market, Pixel sales are holding steady rather than surging. In 2023, some estimates suggested Google was flirting with 5% market share, and the Pixel 9 launch delivered the company’s best-ever quarterly sales.
Now, growth looks slower. While the Pixel 10 is set to launch in August, Canalys warns that overall smartphone demand in the US is looking tepid. Vendors have been frontloading shipments to offset possible tariff changes later this year, but the market as a whole only grew 1% in Q2. That suggests sell-through is weaker than sell-in, and inventories are piling up.
India overtakes China as the top US smartphone supplier
Behind the sales numbers, the supply chain picture is shifting fast. For the first time ever, India is the top manufacturing hub for smartphones shipped to the US. In Q2 2025, 44% of imported devices came from India, compared to just 13% a year ago. China’s share collapsed from 61% to 25% in the same period, while Vietnam also grew its slice to 30%.
Apple is driving much of this change, accelerating its “China Plus One” strategy by moving iPhone 16 production to India. Samsung and Motorola have also increased India-based output, though at a much smaller scale.
What the future could hold for Google’s phones
The Pixel 10 launch could give Google another short-term bump in Q3, but breaking beyond the low-single-digit market share will remain an uphill battle. With Apple and Samsung commanding 80% of the US market between them, and Motorola entrenched in prepaid and midrange slots, Google’s growth path will depend on whether it can turn niche Pixel loyalty into broader mainstream traction.
For now, the Pixel is back in the top four. It’s a symbolic victory, even if the mountain ahead is still steep.
