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Smartphone shipments dropped by 20%, lowest point in 14 years amid memory crisis

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Smartphone shipments dropped by 20%, lowest point in 14 years amid memory crisis

RAMageddon continues to have wide effects throughout the tech industry, with a new report revealing that the smartphone market has just hit its lowest point in well over a decade.

Counterpoint Research reports that global smartphone shipments dropped by 20% in Q3 2026, reaching the lowest numbers in the past 14 years. The last time smartphone shipments were this low, Samsung’s latest release was the Galaxy S3.

The drop has not only impacted overall shipment figures, but also the share of the market that major smartphone brands take up. Chinese brands including Xiaomi, Vivo, and Oppo all make up a smaller share of the overall market in Q3 2026 compared to the same time the prior year, with Samsung continuing to hold the top spot at 23% of the overall market and Apple at 22%, up from 19% and 18%, respectively.

Counterpoint says that Samsung’s overall shipments only dropped by 3%, with the Galaxy Z Fold 8’s success playing a major role in the company’s quarter. Meanwhile, a recent report claims that Samsung makes no profit when it sells Galaxy phones at this point.

Apple, meanwhile, saw a 22% year-over-year decline with the absence of its base iPhone 18. Oppo and Vivo both saw drops of around 20% while Xiaomi dropped shipments by 30%.



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