iPhone sees strong European growth but Xiaomi is the big winner

Apple Store Regent Street (Image credit: Apple)

What you need to know

Apple's iPhone saw significant growth in Europe, according to a new report.
Xiaomi was the firm with the biggest gain, moving to the number one spot in terms of smartphone shipments.

New numbers show that the iPhone saw significant growth in terms of smartphone shipments in Europe during the second quarter of the year. It wasn't enough to take top spot though — that went to Xiaomi after a stellar performance.

According to numbers shared by Strategy Analytics, Apple saw almost 16% growth year on year, shopping almost 10 million units. Samsung was just ahead with 12 million and a 7% fall in shipments, while Xiaomi's 12.7 million units was a massive 67% increase over the previous year.

The highlight of the quarter is Xiaomi emerging as Europe's number one vendor by smartphone shipments for the first time ever. We estimate Xiaomi shipped a record 12.7 million units in Europe to overtake long-time leader Samsung.[...]Apple posted a strong quarter, growing +16% YoY and shipping an estimated 9.6M iPhones in Europe during Q2 2021. The iPhone 12 range continues to resonate with loyal Apple fans who were overdue to replace their aging 4G models.

Strategy Analytics Europe Phone Shipments (Image credit: Strategy Analytics)

The strong iPhone growth was backed by impressive iPhone 12 sales as the device continues to sell well. Apple will announce its successor, the iPhone 13 lineup, within the next few weeks — the days of iPhone 12 being the best iPhone available are numbered.

The strength of Xiaomi is undoubtedly the big news here, with the Android device maker grabbing huge gains across Europe. It seems to have taken a chunk out of Samsung's business, while Strategy Analytics lists "other' manufacturers as having seen shipments fall by 20% — likely thanks to Xiaomi.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.