Apple's iPhone 6s is the most popular smartphone in the world

Apple may not sell as many smartphones as Samsung, but its iPhones consistently rank at the top of the sales charts, typically edging their Galaxy S rivals by a healthy margin. So, it should not come as a surprise that it is an iPhone that is the most popular smartphone in the world as well.

ScientiaMobile, which recently released a report that crowns the Galaxy S7 as the most popular Samsung-made smartphone in the world, today expands its scope and announces that the title for the most popular smartphone in the world belongs to the iPhone 6s.

Apple launched the iPhone 6s nearly two years ago, in September 2015 to be exact, so the smartphone had quite a bit of time to climb its way to the top. It beat its predecessor, the iPhone 6, for the title of the most popular smartphone in the first quarter of 2017, more specifically in February 2017.

ScientiaMobile has reached this conclusion based on an analysis of web traffic from mobile devices, and says that the iPhone 6s makes up about eight percent of "all global smartphone browsing." And its rise continues, according to the report.

The iPhone 7 is coming strong from behind, being in third place among iPhones, and is expected to continue its climb in the charts as iPhone 6 users upgrade to a new device. ScientiaMobile says that "the upgrade potential for the iPhone 7 and 8 is significant if Apple can retain customers."

As you can see from the chart above, the iPhone 7 surpassed the iPhone 5s, which was launched nearly four years ago, sometime in the first quarter of the year. Its growth trajectory indicates a better performance compared to the iPhone 6s, which is to be expected given that it is the latest (and greatest) iPhone that you can buy today.

Photo Credit: Wayne Williams