Overview
- Counterpoint's Q2 data this week showed global smartphone shipments fell about 11 percent year‑on‑year, the weakest second quarter since 2013.
- The primary driver is sharply higher memory prices for DRAM and NAND, which analysts link to heavy corporate buying for AI and data centers that has tightened supply.
- Samsung and Apple gained market share in Q2 while budget‑focused Chinese brands such as Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo lost ground as makers raised prices or cut low‑margin volumes.
- Price‑sensitive buyers are delaying purchases or turning to older and refurbished phones, pressuring choice and raising concerns about long‑term security updates for those devices.
- Counterpoint now sees a deeper full‑year decline of about 14 percent and expects elevated memory prices to persist into 2027, prompting makers to favor fewer, higher‑margin models and extend older model lifecycles.