Apple’s latest iPhone models are on display at its Regent Street store in London on iPhone 17 launch day.
Arjun Karpal | CNBC
apple Research firm IDC predicts iPhone shipments will reach record levels this year, driven by the latest models and the resurgence of key market China.
IDC said in a report Tuesday that the company expects to ship 247.4 million iPhones in 2025, up more than 6% from a year ago. This exceeds the 236 million units sold in 2021, when the iPhone 13 was released.
Nabila Popal, senior research director at IDC, said in a statement that Apple’s expected rapid growth is “driven by the incredible success of its latest iPhone 17 series,” adding that in China, “massive demand for iPhone 17 has significantly accelerated Apple’s performance.”
Shipments is a term analysts use to refer to the number of devices a vendor sends to sales channels such as e-commerce partners and stores. Although these do not directly equate to sales, they do indicate the demand a company expects for its products.
When the iPhone 17 series went on sale in September, investors saw it as an important set of devices for Apple, which was facing increased competition in China and questions about its artificial intelligence strategy amid the rise of Android rivals.
Apple’s shipments in China are expected to rise 17% year-on-year in the fourth quarter, according to IDC, and the research firm now expects the market to grow 3% this year, compared with a previously expected 1% decline.
In China, local companies such as Huawei are taking market share from Apple.
IDC’s report follows last week’s report from 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 may delay the release of the base model of its next iPhone 18 device until 2027, disrupting the company’s normal cycle of releasing all its phones in the fall of each year. IDC said this could cause Apple’s shipments to decline by 4.2% next year.
