Apple has sold 3 billion iPhones but Android is still king of the world

The iPhone is more than a mere smartphone. While we at Android Authority focus mainly on Android (it’s in the name!), many of the contributors and staff members enjoy using iPhones alongside other Android devices. Various iPhone models consistently lead sales charts, thanks to a mix of uniqueness and the associated social image, and their popularity has allowed Apple to hit a significant milestone. At its earnings call yesterday, Apple confirmed it has already shipped more than 3 billion iPhones to date.

In its earnings for the second quarter of 2025, Apple announced it posted $94 billion in revenue, which marks a roughly 10% year-on-year increase compared to Q2 of 2024. This is the highest quarterly revenue increase since 2021. Mac and iPhone contributed to double-digit growth figures, despite Apple’s sluggish approach to rolling out the Apple Intelligence features. In terms of actual figures, the iPhone led others by a long margin, contributing roughly $44 billion, while the Mac’s contribution was around $9 billion.

Additionally, Apple services, including its iCloud, Music app, and the App Store, contributed to a massive $27 billion. The iPad, on the other hand, saw a decline of close to 8% in sales revenue. At the same time, home devices, such as the HomePod, and accessories, such as the Apple Watch, witnessed about 9% reduction in sales revenue compared to the same quarter of the last year.

Apple’s growth with the iPhone also highlights that the time it takes to sell the latest billionth devices has shortened. It clocked its first billionth sale of the iPhone in 2016. That means it took almost nine years since Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone. However, it had reached the 2 billion mark by 2021, in mere five years since the previous checkpoint. The announcement about the third set of billion units comes in an even shorter duration, substantiating the increasing demand.

Apple’s recent push for a translucent interface on iOS 26 and macOS 26 has compelled many people to contemplate whether Apple may replace iPhones with augmented reality or extended reality headsets. But whether that deters Apple from reaching the four billion milestone is for us to watch over the next few years.

Despite Apple’s staggering sales figures, the number still dwarfs when compared to the sales of Android devices. While there aren’t reliable figures on the total number of Android phones sold, Google announced back in 2022 that more than 3 billion Android phones were actively in use at the time. In terms of software distribution, Android still occupies around three-fourths of the market of mobile devices, as per StatCounter, confirming it is still the true market leader when it comes to volume.