Tech & AI

The Best-Selling Mobile Phones of All Time

Nokia's bar phones and Apple's iPhones dominate every list of the best-selling phones ever, ranked here together by estimated lifetime units sold; the numbers are third-party estimates, and several rows are disputed.

Illustration: the 14 best-selling phone models and model families, from the Nokia 1100 at an estimated 250 million to the iPhone 8 at 121.7 million.

Rank Model Units sold (millions) Year released Maker Type Country of maker
1Nokia 11002502003NokiaFeature phoneFinland
2Nokia 11102502005NokiaFeature phoneFinland
3iPhone 6 and 6 Plus222.42014AppleSmartphoneUnited States
4iPhone 6S and 6S Plus173.82015AppleSmartphoneUnited States
5iPhone 5S163.72013AppleSmartphoneUnited States
6Nokia 32101601999NokiaFeature phoneFinland
7iPhone 7 and 7 Plus156.72016AppleSmartphoneUnited States
8iPhone 11, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max1562019AppleSmartphoneUnited States
9iPhone XR, XS and XS Max150.72018AppleSmartphoneUnited States
10Nokia 12001502007NokiaFeature phoneFinland
11Samsung E11001502009SamsungFeature phoneSouth Korea
12iPhone 5143.42012AppleSmartphoneUnited States
13Nokia 3310 (3330)1262000NokiaFeature phoneFinland
14iPhone 8 and 8 Plus121.72017AppleSmartphoneUnited States

Ranking rule: every phone is ordered by one number, its estimated lifetime units sold in millions, as given in Wikipedia’s “List of best-selling mobile phones” and cross-checked for the top rows against Guinness World Records, HolonIQ and press reports (see Sources). These are estimates. Phone makers rarely publish sales by model (Apple never does), so the figures come from market-research firms and press articles, many of them repeating one another, and Wikipedia marks the whole list as disputed. Feature phones and smartphones are ranked together in one table; the Type column and filter separate them. Where a maker sold two or three sizes of one generation as a single design (iPhone 6 and 6 Plus), the list gives one combined figure and so does this table, so those rows are model families, not single handsets. The Nokia 1100 and 1110 are a near-tie, as are the 1200 and E1100 (both 150 million); ties keep the list’s order. Left out: product lines (the Nokia 105 series, 200 million, and families such as the Nokia 2600 and 1600), and the Nokia 6600, 5230 and Motorola Razr V3, whose 130–150 million figures Wikipedia flags as dubious or unsourced (Nokia itself reported about 2 million 6600s after four months). The table stops at 121.7 million.[1]

The Top 10

#1

Nokia 1100 — 250 million

Announced in August 2003 and on sale from the fourth quarter, the Nokia 1100 is the best-selling phone in most lists: Wikipedia and Guinness World Records both give “more than 250 million”. It was a cheap, durable bar phone with a built-in flashlight, and it sold especially well across Africa, Asia and Latin America. Nokia has not published an audited per-model figure, so the 250 million is a widely repeated estimate, and Wikipedia itself notes that several sources for it quote one another.[2]

#2

Nokia 1110 — 250 million

Released in June 2005 as the 1100's successor, with a 96×68-pixel screen and a 900 mAh battery. Sources split on its total: Wikipedia and HowStuffWorks say about 250 million, while HolonIQ, citing Omdia and Yahoo Finance, says 248 million. The two Nokias are effectively tied at the top, and their order here is only the order the list gives them.[2]

#3

iPhone 6 and 6 Plus — 222.4 million

The best-selling smartphone and the best-selling iPhone, unveiled on September 9, 2014 and on sale from September 19, with 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screens and the A8 chip. The list counts the two sizes as one entry. Apple does not report sales by model, so the 222.4 million figure is a market-research estimate (cited via TheStreet); other tallies quote 220 million or 224 million.[3]

#4

iPhone 6S and 6S Plus — 173.8 million

Announced in September 2015 with 3D Touch pressure-sensitive screens, the A9 chip and a 12-megapixel camera. Apple reported 13 million units in the launch weekend alone. The 173.8 million total is an estimate for the two models combined.[3]

#5

iPhone 5S — 163.7 million

Announced on September 10, 2013 as the first iPhone with Touch ID and a 64-bit A7 chip, on sale from September 20 at $199 on contract. The total is a third-party estimate (TheStreet, 2017).[3]

#6

Nokia 3210 — 160 million

Launched in 1999 with an internal antenna and a built-in ringtone composer, and the best-selling phone of its era; HMD relaunched the name in 2024. Wikipedia tags this particular figure as disputed, so treat 160 million as a repeated estimate, not a verified count.[4]

#7

iPhone 7 and 7 Plus — 156.7 million

Unveiled on September 7, 2016. Estimates put the two models at 156.7 million units, and trade coverage reported the iPhone 7 as the world's best-selling smartphone in the first quarter of 2017.[5]

#8

iPhone 11, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max — 156 million

The September 2019 line-up, with the A13 chip and, on the Pro models, a triple camera. The 156 million is an estimate from MacRumors's reporting of market-research data, counting all three models together.[5]

#9

iPhone XR, XS and XS Max — 150.7 million

The 2018 iPhones. The cheaper iPhone XR, with preorders from October 19, 2018 and the A12 Bionic chip, was named the world's best-selling smartphone of 2019 in market data, which is why the three are tallied together at an estimated 150.7 million.[5]

#10

Nokia 1200 — 150 million

A low-cost 2007 bar phone built for emerging markets. Its 150 million comes from the Telegraph's gallery of best-sellers, which Wikipedia flags for circular sourcing, so it ties with the Samsung E1100 only on a repeated estimate.[6]

Mobile Phones Nokia iPhone Smartphones Feature Phones

Sources

  1. Wikipedia, “List of best-selling mobile phones” (en.wikipedia.org), the single source family for every figure in the table, read October 2026; its own cleanup notes on disputed and circularly sourced rows; Guinness World Records, “Biggest-selling mobile phone” (guinnessworldrecords.com); HolonIQ, “Most sold mobile phones of all time” (index.holoniq.com).
  2. Wikipedia, “Nokia 1100” and “Nokia 1110”; Guinness World Records (1100: more than 250 million); HolonIQ citing Omdia and Yahoo Finance (1110: 248 million); HowStuffWorks, “What’s Been the Best Selling Phone in the World?” (electronics.howstuffworks.com); GSMArena, Nokia 1110 specifications.
  3. Wikipedia, “iPhone 6” (September 9, 2014 announcement, September 19 release, screens and chip); Troy Segal, “What’s the Best-Selling iPhone Model of All Time?”, Investopedia (investopedia.com); TheStreet, “Here’s Why the Apple iPhone and Watch May Move to a New Display” (September 7, 2017; iPhone 6, 5S, 5 and XR-era estimates); AppleInsider, September 28, 2015 (iPhone 6s launch weekend of 13 million units).
  4. Wikipedia and Radio-Electronics.com, “Nokia 3210 Vintage Mobile Phone” (radio-electronics.com); La Nación, May 2024 (HMD relaunch). The 160 million figure is tagged as disputed in Wikipedia.
  5. MacRumors, “iPhone 12 Passes 100 Million Sales in First Super-Cycle Since iPhone 6” (June 30, 2021); AppleInsider, May 10, 2017 (iPhone 7 best-selling smartphone in Q1 2017); Apple Newsroom, “Apple Announces iPhone 5s” (September 10, 2013, apple.com); 9to5Mac, October 19, 2018 (iPhone XR preorders and A12 Bionic); Omdia 2019 smartphone sales data as reported in the press.
  6. Wikipedia, “List of best-selling mobile phones” (Nokia 1200 and Samsung E1100: 150 million each, from The Telegraph’s “The 20 bestselling mobile phones of all time”, flagged there as circular reporting); Nokia press release, September 21, 2005 (Nokia 3310/3330: 126 million).