Global smartphone shipments fall 20% in third quarter of 2026, Omdia says
XLK•Global smartphone shipments fell 20% year over year in the third quarter of 2026, reaching their lowest third-quarter level since 2013. Samsung and Apple together held 45% of shipments, while rising memory and storage costs prompted vendors to cut low-margin device shipments.
1. Shipments and market share
Global smartphone shipments fell 20% year over year in the third quarter of 2026, accelerating from a 6% decline in the previous quarter. Samsung led with 23% market share, followed by Apple at 22% and Xiaomi at 12%; Samsung and Apple together captured 45%, up approximately 8 percentage points from a year earlier. Vendors prioritized average selling price growth and portfolio optimization to protect profitability, while entry-level devices were particularly exposed to rising memory and storage costs.
