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Global smartphone shipments fell 22% year-over-year to 255.3 million units in the third quarter of 2026, marking the steepest quarterly decline in industry history, according to IDC. The drop was driven by AI data center demand diverting memory chip supplies, which increased component costs by approximately 350% and led manufacturers to raise prices and reduce budget-tier availability. Chinese brands saw the largest declines, with Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo shipments falling 29.2%, 34.5%, and 31.5% respectively, while Samsung and Apple experienced smaller decreases of 5.8% and 4.0%.
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Key sources
- SOURCE@techmeme“Global smartphone shipments fell 22% YoY to 255.3M in Q3, a record quarterly drop”x.com
- SUPPORT@kobeissiletter“memory costs have surged +350% since last year, driven by AI-related demand”x.com
- SUPPORT@kawzinvests“Growth isn’t expected to recover until 2028 at the earliest”x.com
- SUPPORT@bowtiedbull“iPhone 18 and Pro Max were weaker than expected”x.com
- SUPPORT@firstadopter“plummeting consumer smartphone sales is bad for Qualcomm”x.com
- SUPPORT@milkroadai“AI data centers are bidding memory away from handsets”x.com
- SUPPORT@hedgiemarkets“A basic DRAM chip that cost $6.30 a year ago went for about $26 at the end of September”x.com
- SOURCEhuggingnewshuggingnews.com