Counterpoint Research’s preliminary estimate puts global smartphone system-on-chip (SoC) shipments 21% lower year over year in Q3 2026. The downturn was uneven: Apple and Samsung gained share, while MediaTek, Qualcomm and UNISOC lost ground, according to Counterpoint’s analysis.
A separate Counterpoint tracker measured a 20% year-over-year decline in smartphone shipments during the same quarter. That figure tracks handsets; the 21% estimate tracks the chips used in them.
A larger share is a bigger slice of the market, not a count of how many chips a company shipped.
How smartphone chip vendors’ shares shifted
The vendor-share figures attributed to Counterpoint show MediaTek remained the largest named supplier in Q3 2026, followed by Qualcomm. Apple and Samsung increased their shares; “Others” is a combined category, not one vendor.
| Vendor or category | Q3 2025 share | Q3 2026 share | Change |
| MediaTek | 34% | 28% | −6 percentage points |
| Qualcomm | 25% | 22% | −3 percentage points |
| Apple | 17% | 21% | +4 percentage points |
| UNISOC | 14% | 13% | −1 percentage point |
| Samsung | 6% | 8% | +2 percentage points |
| Others | 4% | 8% | +4 percentage points |
The changes are percentage-point differences between the two reported shares. They describe each vendor’s portion of SoC shipments, not changes in its absolute chip shipments. Rounded shares may not add up to exactly 100%.
Why the decline hit some vendors and price tiers harder
Counterpoint linked the downturn to higher memory costs, longer phone replacement cycles and cautious inventory management by manufacturers. It said mid- and entry-price segments were hit hardest as phone makers reduced entry-level models and focused on margins; premium SoCs were less affected.
The firm attributed Apple’s and Samsung’s relative resilience to integrated supply chains and a shift toward premium phones. It connected MediaTek’s and UNISOC’s greater pressure to their exposure to mid- and low-priced devices. For Qualcomm, Counterpoint cited softer sales among Chinese phone makers and Samsung’s mix of Snapdragon and Exynos chips in the Galaxy S26 series.
These explanations describe the market factors Counterpoint identified alongside the share changes. They do not turn a share gain into proof of higher unit shipments: a vendor’s share can rise even as the overall market contracts.
Memory costs and the limits of reuse
Counterpoint reported that smartphone memory prices grew 5%–10% in Q3 2026 compared with Q2. It forecast a further 5% quarter-over-quarter increase in Q4. Some entry-level manufacturers used recycled memory to manage component costs, but the firm said reuse remained niche because SoCs are closely integrated with peripheral circuitry and radio-frequency components, making memory reuse technically difficult.
Counterpoint’s outlook for late 2026 and 2027
Counterpoint expected three September flagship chip launches, based on TSMC’s 2nm process, to support premium SoC shipments in Q4 2026: Apple’s A20 series, MediaTek’s Dimensity 9600 Pro and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 series. Its forecast still put Q4 premium-chip volumes below Q4 2025.
For the full year, Counterpoint forecast a 20% year-over-year decline in global smartphone SoC shipments in 2026, followed by a further 3%–4% decline in 2027.
