Smartphone shipments fall 20% in 3Q26, lowest third quarter since 2013

Global smartphone shipments fell 20% year on year to 254.7 million units in the third quarter of 2026, the lowest third-quarter total since 2013, Omdia says.¹ Rising prices are the main reason, with demand hit hardest in emerging markets.²

The ripple reaches the shelf. Higher device costs raised working capital needs for distributors and retailers, who are holding back on stocking up ahead of the holiday season.¹ Fewer phones in the channel, at higher prices, is not a recipe for a cheap holiday sale. Asterisk count for the market as a whole: one big one, and it is price.

Who sold what

Samsung stayed first, shipping 57.8 million units, down 5%. Its entry- and mid-range Galaxy A series kept it competitive while rival Android brands dealt with memory supply limits and higher prices. The August launch of the Galaxy Z8 series, backed by trade-in and upgrade programs, helped in the premium tier.¹

Apple shipped 56.5 million iPhones, flat on the year. Demand held up in China and North America, offsetting weakness in key emerging markets, helped along by iPhone 17 demand and retailers stocking early ahead of expected price increases. In September Apple introduced the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max and its first foldable, the iPhone Duo, while pushing the base iPhone 18 to 2027.¹

Xiaomi held third place with 30.7 million units, down 29%. Its shipments fell 20% in China and 28% in India as it adjusted prices to protect margins, which cost it the most volume in price-sensitive markets.¹ OPPO, including realme and OnePlus, took fourth with 23.4 million units, down 39%. Vivo was fifth at 19.3 million, down 33%. Both raised prices in core markets as component costs climbed.¹

Where it hurts most

Africa fell the furthest, down 39%, as vendors shifted from chasing share to protecting margins. APAC excluding Greater China, the Middle East and Latin America each dropped by more than 20%. Currency depreciation, inflation and living costs have pushed some buyers to delay upgrades, buy refurbished phones, or in lower-income markets settle for feature phones.² North America held up better, thanks to a premium-heavy market and carrier financing, trade-in and upgrade programs.²

Mass-market vendors are adjusting RAM and storage configurations, cutting SKUs and absorbing some costs selectively while pushing higher-value models.²

Other trackers agree on direction, not on size

IDC’s preliminary numbers show a steeper drop: 22.0% to 255.3 million units, which it calls its largest year-on-year decline to date. It puts Samsung at 57.8 million and Apple at 57.3 million, and blames an AI-led memory crisis, with memory costs up roughly 350% since last year.³ The Apple figure is the main gap: Omdia has the iPhone flat, while IDC has it down 4.0%. IDC also expects growth to stay constrained through 2027, with any recovery pushed to 2028 at the earliest.³

Our read: Two trackers, two slightly different totals, one clear story: phones got more expensive and fewer people bought them. Samsung and Apple, with premium lineups and carrier financing behind them, are bleeding least. The Chinese brands that live on cheaper phones are bleeding most. If you are shopping, IDC’s analysts suggest holiday-quarter promotions are likely your best shot rather than waiting for prices to ease.³ Just read the trade-in terms first.

Footnotes

1. Light Reading, “Global smartphone shipments fell 20% in 3Q26, the lowest third-quarter total since 2013 – Omdia”. Retrieved October 29, 2026. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

2. Yahoo Finance, “Omdia: Global Smartphone Shipments Fell 20% in 3Q26, the Lowest Third-quarter Total Since 2013”. Retrieved October 29, 2026. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

3. IDC, “Global Smartphone Shipments Drop Record High of 22% in Q3 2026 as the Memory Crisis Hits Hard, According to IDC”. Retrieved October 29, 2026. ↩ ↩² ↩³