Philip Morris Worldwide Market Share — Cigarette and HTU

Market share. Pexels Image.

This article presents Philip Morris International (PMI)’s global market share and market share breakdown by product category.

PMI’s product category consists of cigarette and heated tobacco unit (HTU).

Let’s look at the results!

For other key statistics of Philip Morris International, you may find more resources on this page: PMI key stats.

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Definitions

To help readers understand the content better, the following terms and glossaries have been provided.

Total Market Share: Total market share is defined as PMI’s cigarette and heated tobacco unit in-market sales volume as a percentage of total industry cigarette and heated tobacco unit sales volume, excluding China and the U.S., including cigarillos in Japan.

Cigarette Market Share: Market share for cigarettes is defined as the in-market sales volume for cigarettes as a percentage of the total estimated industry sales volume for cigarettes and HTUs. For Japan, the total estimated industry sales volume also includes cigarillos.

HTU Market Share: Market share for HTUs is defined as the in-market sales volume for HTUs as a percentage of the total estimated industry sales volume for cigarettes and HTUs. For Japan, the total estimated industry sales volume also includes cigarillos.

Cigarette Over Cigarette Market Share: PMI’s “cigarette over cigarette market share” refers to the proportion of the company’s cigarette sales volume relative to the total industry sales volume of cigarettes, excluding other tobacco products like heated tobacco units (HTUs).

It provides a focused view of a company’s performance within the traditional cigarette segment, offering insights into its competitive standing in this specific market.

Marlboro Cigarette Over Cigarette Market Share: Marlboro cigarette over cigarette market share refers to the proportion of PMI’s Marlboro cigarette sales volume relative to the total industry sales volume of cigarettes, excluding other tobacco products like heated tobacco units (HTUs).

Heated Tobacco Units (HTU): HTU is the term PMI uses to refer to heated tobacco consumables, which include BLENDS, DELIA, HEETS, HEETS Creations, HEETS Dimensions (defined collectively as “HEETS”), Marlboro HeatSticks, SENTIA, TEREA, TEREA CRAFTED, and TEREA Dimensions, as well as the KT&G licensed brands, Fiit and Miix (outside of South Korea). HTU’s also include zero tobacco heat-not-burn consumables (LEVIA).

IQOS Devices: IQOS heat-not-burn devices are precisely controlled heating devices into which a specially designed and proprietary tobacco units are inserted and heated to generate an aerosol.

Reduced-risk Products (RRPs): Reduced-risk products (“RRPs”) is the term PMI uses to refer to products that present, are likely to present, or have the potential to present less risk of harm to smokers who switch to these products versus continuing smoking.

PMI has a range of RRPs in various stages of development, scientific assessment and commercialization. PMI’s RRPs are smoke-free products that contain and generate far lower quantities of harmful and potentially harmful constituents than those found in cigarette smoke.

In-Market Sales (IMS): In-market sales, or “IMS,” is defined as sales to the retail channel, depending on the market and distribution model.

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Insight & Summary of PMI’s Worldwide Market Share of Cigarette and HTU

PMI’s overall international market share has recovered to a new high by 2025, but the underlying composition has shifted meaningfully — a steadily eroding cigarette market share has been more than offset by explosive, sustained growth in heated tobacco unit (HTU) share, a genuine structural transformation of PMI’s international footprint.

• Total International Market Share: A Full Recovery, Now Reaching a New High Total International Market Share (excluding China and the U.S.) dipped from 28.4% (2018-2019) to a low of 27.3% (2021), before recovering steadily to 29.2% by 2025 — its highest level in the entire dataset. This U-shaped recovery, reaching a new peak rather than merely returning to its prior level, suggests PMI’s overall competitive position internationally has genuinely strengthened in recent years, not just stabilized.

• Cigarette Market Share: A Sustained, Uninterrupted Decline Throughout the Entire Period Total International Market Share For Cigarettes fell from 27.1% (2017) to just 23.4% by 2025 — a substantial and essentially uninterrupted decline across all nine years, with no year showing a meaningful reversal. This consistent erosion stands in sharp contrast to the overall market share recovery, meaning cigarettes alone would have told a story of steady decline; the total figure only improved because of what was happening elsewhere in the portfolio.

• HTU Market Share: The Clear Growth Engine, Expanding More Than Sevenfold Total International Market Share For HTUs grew from just 0.8% (2017) to 5.8% by 2025 — more than a sevenfold increase, and the only metric in the entire dataset with uninterrupted growth in every single year shown. This is the single most important structural finding in the dataset: HTU share growth has not only offset the cigarette category’s decline but has been the primary driver of Total International Market Share reaching a new high, confirming that PMI’s shift toward heated tobacco products has been the defining feature of its international market position over this period.

• Marlboro’s Share Within the Cigarette Category Has Improved Even as the Category Itself Shrinks Marlboro Cigarette Over Cigarette Market Share grew from 9.7% (2018) to 10.7% by 2025 — its highest level in the dataset — meaning Marlboro has been gaining share within a shrinking overall cigarette category, a genuinely different dynamic from Total International Cigarette Over Cigarette Market Share, which has been comparatively flat in the 24.8%-27.4% range without a clear directional trend. This divergence suggests Marlboro’s relative competitive strength within cigarettes has improved even as the category itself becomes a smaller part of PMI’s overall business.

• Structural Takeaway: PMI’s international market position has undergone a genuine structural transformation: cigarette share has declined every year without exception, while HTU share has grown every year without exception, and the combination has pushed Total International Market Share to a new high by 2025 rather than merely offsetting the decline. Given HTU share still sits at just 5.8% — a small fraction of the roughly 23-29% range occupied by the other market share metrics — the trend worth monitoring going forward is whether HTU growth continues at a pace sufficient to keep driving Total International Market Share higher as it comprises an ever-larger share of the portfolio, or whether the category’s growth naturally moderates as it matures, at which point cigarette share’s continued decline could once again become the dominant force shaping PMI’s overall international market position.

The table below combines all key Philip Morris’ worldwide market share metrics into a single view for the latest three fiscal years.

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Worldwide Market Share

The definition of PMI’s total market share is available here: total market share.

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Cigarette And HTU Market Share

The definitions of PMI’s cigarette and HTU market share are available here: cigarette market share and HTU market share. HTU definition is available here: HTU.

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Cigarette Over Cigarette Market Share

The definition of PMI’s cigarette over cigarette market share is available here: cigarette over cigarette market share.

Focusing solely on the industry’s cigarette sales volume, excluding heated tobacco units (HTUs), Philip Morris International achieved a worldwide market share of 25.3% for cigarette in fiscal year 2025.

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References and Credits

1. All financial numbers presented were obtained and referenced from PMI’s quarterly and annual reports published on the company’s investor relations page: PMI’s Reports And Filings.

2. Pixabay Images.

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Disclosure

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to assist us in writing some of the text in this article. However, the data is directly obtained from original sources (usually the quarterly and annual reports) and meticulously cross-checked by our editors multiple times to ensure its accuracy and reliability.

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