LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 30, 2026--
Global smartphone shipments fell 6% year on year (YoY) to 272.0 million units in 2Q 2026, according to Omdia. This follows the front-loaded demand seen in 1Q26 which gave way to the adjustment phase of the memory cost cycle. Persistently high memory prices disrupted supply, increased component costs and forced vendors to rethink pricing, product portfolios and channel strategies.
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The result has been a sharply polarized market, with vendors' performance increasingly determined by their scale, supply chain resilience, pricing power and exposure to entry-level smartphones.
Vendor Highlights
Samsung retained its position as the world's largest smartphone vendor, shipping 60.5 million units (+5% YoY) for a 22% market share. Samsung’s vertically integrated memory business helped it manage component shortages more effectively than peers. The delayed launch of the Galaxy S26 series also shifted premium demand into the second quarter, while Samsung captured additional share in the entry segment as Chinese competitors reduced product line-ups and raised prices.
Apple delivered its strongest-ever second quarter, shipping 55.1 million units (+23% YoY) to achieve a record 20% market share during what is traditionally its weakest seasonal quarter. Channel partners built significantly higher inventories of the base iPhone 17 ahead of anticipated price increases and expectations that the iPhone 18 series will launch at higher price points, supporting stronger sell-in of the current generation. While Apple has largely kept iPhone prices stable despite industry-wide price increases, recent price adjustments across other product categories in late 2Q raise the likelihood of iPhone price increases later this year.
Xiaomi retained third place with 31.2 million shipments, down 26% YoY, representing a second consecutive quarter of decline. With over half of its shipments priced below US$200, Xiaomi was the most exposed among the top five vendors to memory cost inflation, particularly across emerging markets in Asia Pacific and Latin America where entry-level price increases weighed heavily on demand.
OPPO (including realme and OnePlus ) ranked fourth with 28.4 million shipments, down 17% YoY, as it streamlined its three-brand portfolio and reduced entry-level SKUs to improve profitability. vivo completed the top five with 21.5 million shipments, down 18% YoY.
Market Dynamics: Headwinds reset industry priorities and create structural opportunities
The first half of 2026 marked the beginning of a supply- driven reset for the smartphone industry. Sustained increases in memory, storage and application processor costs fundamentally reshaped vendor priorities, shifting the industry's focus from maximizing shipment volumes to protecting margins and average selling prices (ASPs).
Vendors adapted quickly by selectively passing higher component costs on to consumers, exercising greater discipline in entry-level portfolios and accelerating their shift towards mid-range and premium smartphones, helping industry revenue remain comparatively resilient.
Regional disruptions also contributed to weaker market performance. In the Middle East, smartphone shipments declined 18% YoY as heightened geopolitical tensions disrupted supply chains, retail activity and consumer demand. Unlike persistent cost pressures, however, Omdia expects these regional disruptions to be temporary, with market conditions gradually stabilizing in the second half of 2026.
Importantly, higher prices have not only weighed on near-term demand but have also reset consumer price expectations. As consumers become accustomed to higher smartphone prices, vendors have a greater opportunity to establish a structurally higher pricing architecture, supporting long-term ASP expansion beyond the current memory cost cycle. This marks a structural repricing of the smartphone market, where profitability increasingly takes precedence over volume expansion.
"Price is once again becoming a competitive differentiator. The current memory cost cycle is driving a structural repricing of the industry, creating a lasting shift in how vendors compete on pricing, profitability and product positioning." said Le Xuan Chiew, Research Manager at Omdia.
Market Outlook: Higher pricing and disciplined execution to define second half of 2026
Although channel inventories have largely normalized, elevated component costs are expected to keep the smartphone market under pressure through the remainder of 2026 by constraining supply and sustaining higher device prices. While the pace of shipment declines should moderate after the sharp correction in 2Q, a broad-based volume recovery is unlikely until component costs begin to ease.
This evolving market environment is also creating new commercial opportunities. As consumers adapt to higher device prices, vendors are expected to accelerate device financing, expand trade-in and bundled offerings, and grow services revenue to improve affordability while increasing customer lifetime value and strengthening long-term profitability.
Against this backdrop, vendors are expected to maintain disciplined sell-in, further rationalize product portfolios and prioritize profitability over market share. Industry revenue should remain comparatively resilient as higher ASPs and an improving product mix offset weaker shipment volumes. However, downside risks remain should memory costs stay elevated for longer than anticipated or macroeconomic conditions weaken further during the peak selling season.
"Despite seasonal demand from flagship launches, holiday promotions and shopping festivals, smartphone shipments are expected to continue declining over the next two quarters amid persistent cost pressures," said Amber Liu, Practice Leader at Omdia. "The winners will be vendors that combine pricing power, supply chain resilience and innovative commercial strategies to drive profitability, deepen customer relationships and emerge stronger as the market resets."
About Omdia
Omdia, part of TechTarget, Inc. d/b/a Informa TechTarget (Nasdaq: TTGT), is a technology research and advisory group. Our deep knowledge of tech markets grounded in real conversations with industry leaders and hundreds of thousands of data points, make our market intelligence our clients’ strategic advantage. From R&D to ROI, we identify the greatest opportunities and move the industry forward.
Worldwide smartphone estimates by region 2Q 2025 and 2Q 2026
Worldwide smartphone shipment market share, top vendors, 1Q22 to 2Q26
Worldwide smartphone shipments, 1Q23 to 2Q26
WASHINGTON (AP) — The midterm election blowout delivered a new era in Washington, with Democrats in Congress eager to meet voter demands for change while Republicans watched their majorities evaporate after a revolt against President Donald Trump and his party in power.
Democrats ousted Republicans from coast to coast, with many surprising places in between, in a decisive rejection of unified GOP control for the promise of something different for the country. Their majorities will be padded by unusually wide margins in both the House and the Senate.
The staggering results are setting up a starkly divided government, with an emboldened Congress poised to reassert itself as a coequal branch when Democrats take over in the new year. They are ready to launch a 100-day agenda to lower the costs of gas, groceries and healthcare and conduct vast oversight and investigations into Trump and his administration, with impeachment an option.
“We hear you,” said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, who would make history as the first Black speaker of the House if his colleagues elect him to the job when the new Congress begins on Jan. 3, 2027.
Jeffries called the election a “stunning rebuke of MAGA extremism” and “a great victory for the American people.”
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer acknowledged the political reality that voters may have been more willing to reject Trump's party than to embrace the Democrats.
“Many of the folks who voted for us yesterday are still skeptical, and that’s OK,” the New York senator said Wednesday at the Capitol.
He said the history-making scale of his party's wins — picking up long-shot Senate seats in South Carolina, Texas and Kansas — creates “the opportunity to prove ourselves worthy of their trust.”
All told, the results present a fundamental reshaping of power in Washington, with new openings and challenges for governing. The tally was bewildering for the scope of Democratic gains and the depth of Republican losses, which indiscriminately wiped out GOP firebrands, moderates and veteran conservatives nationwide. The swelling majorities, with some races still too early to call, underlined a deep sense of voter anger and concern over the economy and the state of democracy.
Trump struck a conciliatory tone, suggesting he could work with the Democrats, but he also warned of gridlock ahead as he threatened to use the power of the presidential veto to strike down their agenda.
“I don’t want to be just sitting there for two years vetoing everything,” he told Politico.
Later, he acknowledged the Iran war impacted the midterm elections, suggesting voters were frustrated by surging gas prices that have been a byproduct of the 8-month-old conflict.
“The Iran thing we had to do, and we continue to do it,” Trump told reporters.
He said he was not considering replacing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, despite voter dissatisfaction with the war.
Vice President JD Vance, often eyed as Trump's likely successor at the White House, pointedly blamed the president's war in Iran for Republicans' midterm wipeout.
House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana will not seek reelection as House Republican leader, according to two people familiar with his decision, setting up a potentially brutal leadership battle following the party's trouncing by the Democrats. The people who told The Associated Press about Johnson’s decision insisted on anonymity to disclose it.
House Democrats are planning to quickly launch efforts to reverse Trump's GOP cuts to the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid healthcare programs. They're also ready to dive into a robust oversight agenda to, as Jeffries says, “hold the crooks accountable.”
The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Robert Garcia of California, issued a one-sentence warning: “Lawyer up.”
Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, issued his own one-word missive: "Subpoenas."
Democrats will be under pressure to quickly show that they have solutions for voters' anger and frustration over high prices, the war in Iran and unease about the direction of the country. About 7 in 10 voters nationally say Congress is not doing enough to provide checks and balances on the presidency, according to The AP Voter Poll.
For Jeffries and his leadership team, it will be their first time in the majority, managing a class of newcomers including a handful of far-left democratic socialists.
With the majority in the 435-member House growing well past the 218 needed and the Senate Democrats holding at least 54 of 100 seats in that chamber, Jeffries and Schumer will have room to maneuver.
For Republicans, their shriveled numbers quickly launched a reckoning of their own, as they try to figure out what went so uniformly wrong.
In a lengthy online post, the vice president seemingly sought to distance himself from election results seen as a referendum on Trump that featured big Republican losses across the country.
“The reason we lost is the war,” Vance wrote, adding, “If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest.”
Republicans may be anxious during the post-election lame-duck sprint to accomplish as much as possible in their remaining weeks in power. But hopes for another GOP-only priority package like their big tax breaks and spending cuts bill seem dim as defeated lawmakers prepare to go home at the end of the year.
Conservatives have also eyed the opportunity for Trump to nominate more judges or even a justice to the Supreme Court while Senate Republicans still hold a majority to confirm the picks.
And the government could be headed toward a federal shutdown next month if Congress fails to pass a funding bill to keep operations running.
In the weeks ahead, the parties will hold internal leadership elections.
Johnson will stay on as a rank-and-file lawmaker in the new Congress, but rivals are lining up to replace him as GOP leader.
Jeffries will seek to shore up support as Democratic leader, before the House chooses its speaker as one of the first votes when the new Congress convenes.
In the Senate, Schumer faces a new generation of Democrats including some who have yet to support him as majority leader.
Rarely has the president’s party held on to power during midterm elections, but the Democratic tsunami carried echoes of Trump’s first term, when Republicans faced a voter revolt that sent Democrats to the House majority, and the Barack Obama era, when the Republican tea party swept to power.
This new Congress will also mark firsts and welcome trailblazers.
With the election of Democrat Julia Stratton of Illinois, the Senate will for the first time have three Black women in office.
Democrat Peggy Flanagan of Minnesota will be the first Native American female senator, Chris Pappas of New Hampshire will become the first openly gay male U.S. senator and Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan will be the first Muslim to serve in the U.S. Senate.
Associated Press writers Tom Beaumont, Joey Cappelletti, Jill Colvin, Kevin Freking, Mary Clare Jalonick and Will Weissert contributed to this report.
Follow the AP's coverage of the 2026 elections at https://apnews.com/hub/elections.
Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., speaks at a news conference in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, as Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., chair of the House Democratic Caucus, from left, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who is poised to become speaker of the House, Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., the House minority whip, and Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus, listen. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who is poised to become speaker of the House, speaks at a news conference in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., looks on as President Donald Trump speaks with reporters, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, at Dubuque Regional Airport in Dubuque, Iowa, en route to a campaign rally. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., the House minority whip, from left, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., hold hands during a watch party at a hotel on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee office, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., speaks during a watch party at a hotel on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., holds his handwritten speech at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee office, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
The sun rises behind the U.S. Capitol, as seen reflected in the U.S. Capitol Reflecting Pool, on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
