Google breaks into the US top 4 for smartphone shipments, but don’t call it a comeback

Google has edged into the top four US smartphone vendors, which might normally suggest a surge in consumer interest. But these aren’t normal times, and the latest figures have more to do with trade tensions than market momentum.

According to new Q2 2025 data from Canalys, Pixel shipments rose 13% compared to last year, nudging Google past TCL and other manufacturers into fourth place behind Motorola, Samsung, and Apple. Both Google and TCL are still shown at 3% market share due to rounding, but Google shipped more units this year, while TCL’s total shipments shrank by nearly a quarter.

It’s a win of sorts for Google, but one that comes in the middle of an industry-wide scramble to ship devices ahead of mounting tariff risks.

As we saw in the Q1 figures, brands have spent months racing to stockpile inventory before expected US import duties kick in. Apple led the charge with massive Q1 shipments, which explains why its shipments fell 11% in Q2 compared to last year. Samsung’s focus on stockpiling in Q2 boosted its US total by 38% year-over-year in the latest report, mainly made up of the Galaxy A-series phones. That helped it grow its market share, increasing from 23% to 31%.

Still, these drops and gains don’t necessarily reflect consumer demand — just different strategies for getting ahead of policy changes that seem to shift by the month.

That volatility is also fueling a significant supply chain shake-up. According to Canalys, just 25% of US-bound phones were made in China this quarter, down massively from 61% a year ago. India has picked up most of that slack, now accounting for 44% of all US smartphone imports, up from just 13% last year. Apple represents the biggest shift to supply from India, though Motorola and Samsung have also increased their output from Indian facilities.

It’s a logical move but far from a guaranteed solution. The Trump administration has signaled that all non-US-made phones could face a 25% tariff, wherever they’re imported from. Still, manufacturers assume China will be hit far harder, with tariff rates that have already fluctuated from 145% to 30% earlier this year.

In that context, Google’s climb into the top four is technically real, but we still don’t know how many of those phones anyone actually wants to buy today.