The global smartphone market just had its worst second quarter in more than a decade. Apple, somehow, had one of its best. A new Counterpoint Research report puts iPhone shipments up 3% year over year in Q2 2026 and hands Apple a record 20% slice of global shipments, even as the industry as a whole slid to its lowest Q2 volume since 2013. It is a strange result on the surface, and a very logical one once you follow the money back to the memory shortage that is quietly reshaping the entire market.
The Q2 2026 Scoreboard
Samsung took back the top spot it briefly ceded to Apple earlier this year, leading on 24% of global shipments. Apple sat second on its record 20%, ahead of Xiaomi, OPPO and vivo. Here is how the top five stacked up, and how each moved compared with the same quarter in 2025.
| Brand | Q2 2026 share | YoY change |
|---|---|---|
| Samsung | 24% | +4 pts |
| Apple | 20% (record) | +3 pts |
| Xiaomi | 12% | -2 pts |
| OPPO | 11% | -1 pt |
| vivo | 8% | +1 pt |
| Others | 26% | -2 pts (from 28%) |
The pattern is worth sitting with. The two brands that grew their share, Samsung and Apple, are the two that sell the most expensive phones. The Chinese brands squeezing the low and mid range, Xiaomi and OPPO, both went backwards. That is not a coincidence, and it points straight at the cost pressure hitting the cheap end of the market hardest.
A 13-Year Low, and the Reason Why
Counterpoint pegs Q2 2026 as the weakest second quarter for smartphone shipments since 2013, with volumes down around 11% year over year. The culprit is the same one that keeps surfacing across the industry right now: a deep shortage of DRAM and NAND memory that has sent component prices climbing and forced almost every manufacturer to raise handset prices in response.
We have been tracking that squeeze for months, from the supplier accusations about who caused it to the way rising memory costs are gutting cheap Android phones. This Counterpoint report is essentially those threads showing up in the hard shipment numbers. When memory gets expensive, budget phones with thin margins are the first casualties, and the brands that live in that segment feel it first.
How Apple Grew While Everyone Shrank
Apple’s single biggest advantage last quarter was one it did not have to do anything flashy to earn: it was the only major manufacturer that did not raise prices. While rivals passed the memory crunch on to buyers, iPhone stickers held steady, which made a $799 iPhone look relatively more attractive against Android phones that had crept upward. Combine that with the iPhone 17 series continuing to be the single top-shipped model on the planet, and you get a rare stretch of growth in a shrinking market.
Here is Counterpoint’s full read on Apple’s quarter:
“Apple’s shipments grew 3% YoY during the quarter, while its market share climbed to a record 20%. It was also the only major OEM to avoid smartphone price hikes during the quarter. This marks an extended streak of YoY growth for the brand, driven by the continued strength of the iPhone 17 series which remained the top-shipped global model, alongside resilient demand in several key markets. China remained a relative soft spot, with Apple’s shipments declining YoY despite an early promotional campaign ahead of the 618-shopping festival, as this year’s discounts were less aggressive than the promotions offered during the same period in 2025. Legacy iPhone models also faced softer demand, as component allocation prioritized current-generation devices amid memory-related supply constraints.”
Two lines in there deserve unpacking. First, China stayed a soft spot, with Apple actually shipping fewer iPhones there year over year because it dialed back its 618 festival discounts compared with 2025. That is a deliberate margin choice, not a demand collapse, and it tells you Apple would rather protect pricing than chase volume in a tough market. Second, older iPhones sold worse than usual because Apple funneled scarce memory toward current-generation devices. In other words, the same shortage that is hurting everyone else is also nudging Apple’s own mix toward its newer, higher-margin phones, which we flagged when the company started reprioritizing iPhone 17 production.
Samsung Reclaims the Crown
The record share still was not enough to keep Apple on top. Samsung returned to first place in Q2 after Apple had led the opening quarter of the year on iPhone 17 demand, and it did so by growing faster than anyone else at the top. Counterpoint credits strong demand for the Galaxy S26 series, better product availability, and more aggressive promotions. Where Apple held its pricing line, Samsung leaned into discounts and supply to move units, and it worked well enough to add four points of share.
The takeaway is that the two giants are running opposite playbooks against the same headwind. Apple is defending price and margin, Samsung is defending volume and share. Both are, for now, winning ground at the expense of the brands beneath them.
What Happens Next
None of this gets easier soon. Counterpoint’s outlook for the rest of the year is blunt:
“[Counterpoint expects] global smartphone shipments to decline by around 14% for the full year, with the global memory shortage expected to persist in 2027.”
To ride it out, the firm says manufacturers will keep cutting low-margin models, adjusting storage configurations, and leaning harder on refurbished and previous-generation devices until supply loosens up. For shoppers, that translates into fewer genuinely cheap new phones, more base models quietly settling on smaller storage tiers, and a refurbished market that keeps getting more mainstream.
For Apple, a record 20% share in the worst Q2 in 13 years is a genuine flex, but it is worth keeping in perspective. This is share won partly because rivals raised prices and Apple did not, and Apple’s own commentary makes clear the memory shortage is shaping its lineup too. A record built on everyone else’s bad quarter is still a record, just one with an asterisk attached to the state of the market around it.
You can read Counterpoint Research’s full Q2 2026 report here.
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