A report from Techreport.com shows smartphone growth is running four times faster than global population gains, with devices rising from 5.9 billion in 2020 to 7.42 billion as of January 2025.

Cash is pouring in, with global smartphone revenue totalling $2.3 trillion between 2020 and 2024. Annual turnover is forecast to break the $560 billion mark by 2029 as adoption spreads deeper into emerging markets.

While the pie grows, the big slices are shifting. Samsung, once the undisputed volume king, is in retreat. Its quarterly shipments nosedived from 80.4 million in late 2020 to just 51.7 million in Q4 2024 — the lowest in a decade — as it moved away from cheap handsets and came under siege from China’s nimble producers.

Job’s Mob, meanwhile, clings to loyalty like a life raft. It managed a modest iPhone shipment rise of 2.4 million over ten years, hitting a 27.7 per cent market share. But it’s Chinese rivals doing the running.

Xiaomi bumped its annual shipments from 146 million to 168.5 million in a year, locking in a 13.6 per cent market share. If that level holds and prices tick up, it could be banking $630 billion in revenue by 2029—eclipsing the entire industry's 2020–2024 takings.

Countries like China and India — with more than 800 million people between them still not using smartphones — offer gaping opportunities for growth. Anyone who can hook that crowd might own the future.