10 Best Selling Smartphones in the World: 2016 Rankings

It wasn’t that long ago when the world changed completely with the release of the first smartphone, and now we can’t even imagine our lives without them, so we’re going to take a look and see just which are the 10 best selling smartphones in the world: 2016 rankings.

Similarly, a few years back when you were searching for a good smartphone you’d just check to see whether it had a decent camera and if it didn’t get stuck every other minute. Nowadays, things have changed considerably, and there’s so much more to look at. From the hardware involved, to what type of screen it has, to how long the battery lasts, to how much storage room it has, to how thin it is, how light it is, how fast it is and so on.

We’re also going to jump in and talk about the operating system since those are also quite important, and you should take all into consideration when buying a new smartphone. After all, when talking about Android, at least, some smartphones will get prioritized when getting system updates. Furthermore, the newer the device, the more chances you have to get system updates frequently and for a longer period of time.

If you want, you can also check out the 10 best selling smartphones in the world: 2015 rankings and see which ones ruled the globe last year.

Now we’re going to check and see just which of the best smartphones in the world made the cut when it comes to sales. For the information we needed we checked in with Counterpoint, a technology market research firm, which analyses the global industry from all over the world, although its headquarters are in Hong Kong. Without further ado, here are the 10 best selling smartphones in the world: 2016 rankings.

10. Samsung Galaxy Note 5

The Note5 was released in August 2015, but it seems that it still manages to be among the best smartphones on the market, not just thanks to its stats, but also thanks to the following this phone family has gained over the past few years.

The 5.7-inch screen smartphone sells for over $500 unlocked and it has some really cool features. The phone comes with a preinstalled Android Lollipop which is upgradable to Marshmallow. It comes with a 16 MP back camera and a 5 MP front camera that can reliably be used for video calls and all the selfies you want. The Galaxy Note 5 comes with extra security layers as it requires your fingerprint to be unlocked.

The one thing people seem to be complaining about is the short battery life, but that seems to be a recurrent theme with smartphones in general. It should be mentioned that the phablet is powered by a non-removable Li-Po 300 mAh battery.

And now, let’s see what else we have on our list of best selling smartphones in the world: 2016 rankings.

9. Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge

Also released in 2015, but this time in April, is the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge which seems to be still doing fine in the sales charts. The device comes with 32, 64 or 128 GB storage and it’s quite important to make the best choice since there’s no card slot to help you out in the future.

This Samsung phone, which ranks 9th on our list of best selling smartphones in the world: 2016 rankings, has a 5.1-inch Corning Gorilla Glass 4 screen and it comes with Android Lollipop preinstalled, with the option of upgrading to Android Marshmallow, which is, of course, advisable. The unlocked 32GB version costs north of $500, but you can probably get it a lot cheaper if it comes with a voice and data plan.

The camera on this phone has 16 MP, while the front one has 5 MP and is perfectly ready to handle all your needs.

8. Huawei P9

Released in April 2016, Huawei P9 is clearly making waves across the globe since it already made the cut among the best-sold smartphones in the world. The 5.2-inch smartphone comes with an IPS 1080p display and it’s packed with the newest Kirin 955 chipset and 3GB of RAM.

The P9 comes in two options when it comes to internal storage – 32 GB or 64GB, although this shouldn’t be too important since it comes with a microSD slot where you can hitch up an extra 256 GB of space.

The phone has a 12 MP primary camera that was co-designed with Leica, the famous camera maker. Furthermore, the main 12 MP sensor is completed with a 12 MP monochrome sensor which should help you take breathtaking photos.

The Huawei P9 which ranks 8th on our list of best selling smartphones in the world: 2016 rankings, sells for over $600 without a voice plan.

7. Apple iPhone 6

It may be two years old, but the iPhone 6 is still a hit among smartphone lovers. That’s mostly because, as per Apple’s tradition, prices for the old version drop when a new phone is released. Therefore, the iPhone 6 goes for just over $500.

The iPhone 6 has a 4.7-inch screen and it comes preinstalled with iOS 8, with upgrades to iOS9 available already and plans to upgrade to iOS 10. As per usual, the phone comes with no card slot, so the internal space is all you get, with options ranging from 16GB to 64GB to 128GB, each coming with a price upgrade.

The phone’s camera has 8 MP, while the front camera is a mere 1.2 MP, well below what other competitors are offering. On the other hand, the blend between hardware and software is well known when it comes to Apple, so that makes up quite a bit of the lag.

6. Samsung Galaxy S6

Released at the same time as the S6 edge, this phone has been around for over a year. The device has a 5.1-inch Corning Gorilla Glass screen, and it’s otherwise an elegant mix of glass and metal, with little plastic involved in its design.

The Samsung Galaxy S6 comes with a multitude of sensors, including fingerprint recognition so your phone is kept safe when you’re away. The rear camera is quite good with 16 MP and optical image stabilization, while the front camera has 5 MP and it acts great in low-light situations.

Samsung’s 2015 hit phone sells for over $400 nowadays, but you’re certainly going to be able to find it cheaper with a voice plan.

5. Apple iPhone SE

Released just a few months ago, the iPhone SE, the next one on our list of best selling smartphones in the world: 2016 rankings, has a 4-inch screen, which is quite a bit smaller than what we’re all used to nowadays, but not something that’s entirely foreign to Apple. The device comes with iOS 9 preinstalled, and there’s an iOS 10 upgrade in the works.

The primary camera on the iPhone SE is 12MP, while the front facing camera is a mere 1.2 MP. Thankfully, however, it makes up for the missing megapixels through the quality of the captured images.

For the most part, the SE looks the same as the 5s, but the hardware is quite different. Many have criticized Apple for this move, accusing them of giving up on any kind of design innovation. As per usual, there is no card slot, and there’s no wireless charging available. The device is also not waterproof or dust resistant, so make sure to take extra good care of it.

4. Samsung Galaxy S7

Released in March, Samsung Galaxy S7, the next one on our list of best selling smartphones in the world: 2016 rankings has been making quite a few waves across tech lovers. The 5.1-inch smartphone is said to be what the Galaxy S6 should have been had Samsung not failed to deliver on the fans’ hopes. Now, the device mixes with all the features you loved in the S5 and S6, making for an impressive phone. The microSD slot is back to help you expand the phone’s storage space, the device is waterproof, although the battery remains stuck in the phone.

The phone has a dual-glass design and an aluminum frame, making for a rather elegant device, it runs on a Snapdragon 820 chipset with 4GB of RAM. Galaxy S7 comes with Android Marshmallow preinstalled, although, as always, it’s not the clean version Alphabet Inc. designed, but the TouchWiz interface Samsung came up with.

The Galaxy S7 can be purchased with over $670 without a data plan.

3. Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge

Released at the same time as the previous smartphone, the S7 Edge which ranks 3rd on our list of best selling smartphones in the world: 2016 rankings, has a slightly larger screen – 5.5 inch. While it may seem like the same device released in the prior year, things aren’t necessarily so. Of course, there’s not much room to perfect this design that Samsung seems to be fond of given the releases of the previous years, but the part that matters most is the hardware. As it happened with the regular version of the Galaxy flagship phone, this seems to be the perfect combination of what fans loved from the previous two devices released by Samsung.

The device is more powerful on the inside, looks great on the outside and features the beloved microSD slot while also being waterproof.

What will you be paying for this premium phone? Well, it could go as high as $780 if you’re looking to buy it with no strings attached.

2. Apple iPhone 6s Plus

Up next on the second place of the best selling smartphones in the world: 2016 rankings, is the iPhone 6s Plus is quite comfortable. The 5.5-inch giant iPhone the company released back in 2015 brought some improvements over the first phablet Apple released the previous year. While the devices look virtually the same, the changes are, as usual, under the hood, which also leads to some extra weight to the phone.

One of the best improvements is the new camera that captures 12MP shots and records 4K videos. The RAM is also doubled in power and the chip comes with some extra power too. Prices start at $650 with no strings attached.

1. Apple iPhone 6s

At the top of our list is Apple’s release from last year, the iPhone 6s. Dropping the “plus” from the nametag means this is a regular-sized phone with a 4.7-inch screen.

As with the larger version, the iPhone 6s has a better camera that offers both great pictures and high-quality videos. The upgrades that are beneath the hood are also quite impressive and make this a great phone to own. More could be done, of course, but there’s always the next model to be released that will hopefully include all the features fans want, although that might never actually be possible. The device goes for $550 for the 16GB version.

All in all, the Apple iPhone 6s tops the list of the 10 best selling smartphones in the world: 2016 rankings.