Overview: Japan stood out in Q1 2025 as a key market with notable growth in smartphone sales, recording a 31% increase YoY with 9.31 million units sold. Major mobile carriers actively rolled out a range of promotional campaigns during this period to stimulate new contracts and device upgrades with device return programs are quickly gaining traction. Apple continued to dominate, with strong sales in Q1 largely attributed to Apple’s release of a new mid-range device – the iPhone 16e – its first in three years.
*This report analyses the recent sharp upturn in a market that had long been stagnant, along with the underlying factors driving this change.