Samsung and Apple are the big winners of a quarter where the mobile market had a 20% drop. It's the worst result of the last 14 years.
© Reuters
13/10/2026
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O the latest report shared by Counterpoint Research concerning the third quarter of 2026 indicates that the number of mobile phones sent to stores had a 20% drop – this being the worst result since 2012.
For the same period last year, only Samsung and Apple managed to increase market shares during the third quarter. While in 2025 Samsung and Apple had market shares 19% and 18% (respectively), in 2026 they were 23% and 22%.
In this period we find Xiaomi in third place with 10% (less than 14% of 2025), Oppo with 9% (which had 12%) and Vivo with 8% (less than 9% had last year.
The report concludes that this breakdown in the mobile phone market is due to the scarcity of RAM memory that has been felt in the world of technology, being a direct result of the greater demand these components have had from Artificial Intelligence companies that are dedicated to the development of their own language models.
As for the fact that Samsung and Apple were the exceptions to this “break”, Counterpoint Research indicates that the premium segment remained resilient and, in the case of Samsung, South Korean technology has to thank the good performance in the shops of the foldable Galaxy Z Fold8, Fold8 Ultra and Flip8.
As for forecasts for the future, it is believed that the mobile phone market will continue to have major challenges, with manufacturers seeking to maintain profit margins while reducing the number of units sent to stores.