Even though smart devices are a fast-moving business, sometimes it makes sense to look back and reflect on the past so that you can understand the present better. For example, did you know that the iPhone 4S is the single longest-lived smartphone Apple has ever produced, having been sold from Q4 2011 through Q1 2015 before being finally retired? That single model reached almost 200m units of shipments in its lifetime, which is an impressive figure, although it has been more recently topped by the iPhone 6 which is still available, continuing to set new records. This and a wealth of other insightful data can be found in our latest report published by the Smartphone Model Tracker (SMT) service, Global Historical Smartphone Shipments by Model: 2011-2015. The extensive report contains historical shipment data for more than 200 globally best-selling smartphone models in the five-year period from Q1 2011 to Q4 2015. Our data goes even further back, however.

Samsung, on the other hand, has relied on the breadth of its portfolio and a fast product launch cycle rather than individual very long-lived models. Its Galaxy series of smartphones represents a quarter of all smartphones shipped worldwide in 2011-2015. But the market has certainly evolved during those five years – new contenders such as Xiaomi have also conquered the top-10 list of globally best-selling smartphones in a remarkably short time, and we continue to see some relatively new names rising towards the top.

We invite clients of our SMT service to have a look at the report here.