Global Smartphone Market: Shipments, Vendor Share and 2026 Outlook

Smartphone shipments are tracked quarterly by industry trackers such as IDC, Counterpoint, Canalys and Omdia. Their counts differ slightly because of methods, so this report keeps each figure with its tracker.

After growth in 2025, the market turned down in 2026. IDC reported 276.3 million units shipped in the second quarter of 2026, down 7.4% year on year, and called it the second consecutive quarter of decline [1]. IDC attributes the fall to a memory shortage: it says memory costs are up nearly 300% from a year ago and now account for over 65% of the bill of materials at the low end [1].

In 2025, global smartphone shipments rose 2% year on year, according to Counterpoint, and Apple led the market with a 20% share [3].

IDC's preliminary data showed 322.7 million units shipped in the third quarter of 2025, up 2.6% year on year, with growth led by the premium segment [2]. In that quarter Samsung shipped 61.4 million units (19.0% share), Apple 58.6 million (18.2%), Xiaomi 43.5 million (13.5%) and Transsion 29.2 million (9.0%) [2].

Omdia counted 298.5 million units in the first quarter of 2026, up 1% year on year [4]. Omdia said vendors front-loaded shipments ahead of expected memory and component cost inflation, while consumer demand stayed weak [4].

In the second quarter of 2026, IDC counted 276.3 million units, against 298.3 million a year earlier [1].

In the second quarter of 2026, Samsung shipped 62.7 million units (22.7% share, up 8.1%) and Apple shipped 55.7 million (20.2%, up 14.9%) [1]. Xiaomi shipped 31.2 million (11.3%, down 26.4%), OPPO 28.9 million (10.5%, down 17.1%) and vivo 21.2 million (7.7%, down 19.6%) [1].

Samsung and Apple together held 42.9% of shipments in Q2 2026, up from 35.7% in Q2 2025 (freereports.online calculation from IDC shares [1]). IDC said Apple achieved record second-quarter shipments and is on track for a record 22% annual share in 2026 [1]. IDC also reported that Huawei grew 19.9% year on year in the quarter [1].

• Omdia's Q1 2026 count shows Xiaomi at 33.8 million units, down 19%, OPPO (including realme and OnePlus) at 30.7 million and vivo at 21.3 million [4].
• Omdia notes that more than half of Xiaomi's shipments are in the sub-$200 segment, which is most exposed to memory cost inflation [4].

IDC forecasts that worldwide smartphone shipments will fall 16.7% in 2026 to just over 1 billion units, which it calls the steepest annual contraction the industry has recorded [1]. It expects second-half 2026 shipments to drop 27.2% year on year [1].

IDC expects total market value to grow 6.3% to $613 billion in 2026, because the average selling price is forecast to rise 27.6% to $581 [1]. It forecasts Android shipments to fall 24.3% in 2026, while iOS falls just 1.3% and reaches a record 23.6% share [1].

• Foldables are forecast to grow 12.6% in 2026 to 22.9 million units, helped by Apple's entry into the category [1].
• IDC says 173 million smartphones priced below $100 shipped last year, and that this segment fell almost 60% year on year in Q2 2026 [1].

These are forecasts, not actual results.

Smartphones are the main devices driving 5G adoption. The June 2026 Ericsson Mobility Report says 162 million 5G subscriptions were added in the first quarter of 2026, taking the global total past 3 billion, to 3.1 billion [6]. Ericsson's report page states that 5G subscriptions are now close to 3.3 billion [5]. Ericsson forecasts 6.4 billion 5G subscriptions by the end of 2031 [6].

Subscriptions are not the same as unique users, because one person can hold several SIMs.

• Samsung was the largest vendor in Q2 2026 with 62.7 million units [1].
• Apple was second in Q2 2026 with 55.7 million units, its highest second-quarter total according to IDC [1].
• Xiaomi, OPPO and vivo completed the top five in Q2 2026, all with double-digit declines [1].

Shipment figures are sell-in units from vendor to channel, not sales to consumers. IDC figures count branded device shipments, exclude OEM sales and refurbished units, and assign brands to their parent company [1][2]. Q3 2025 IDC figures were preliminary [2]; Q2 2026 figures are IDC's final historical data [1]. Counterpoint and Omdia figures come from different trackers and should not be mixed with IDC totals [3][4].

The combined Samsung and Apple share (42.9% in Q2 2026 and 35.7% in Q2 2025) is a freereports.online calculation that adds IDC's published vendor shares [1]. IDC's Q2 2026 vendor shares sum to 100.1% because of rounding.

5G figures are subscriptions from the Ericsson Mobility Report, June 2026 [5][6]. GSMA smartphone user counts were not verified for this update and are not included.