IDC has released their quarterly mobile phone tracker and they report Samsung has retained their top spot in regards to smartphone shipments.
Samsung had a 3.6% YoY increase in shipments compared to last year. IDC attributes this to strong demand for the new Galaxy S26 Ultra and the earlier release of the mid-range A series Galaxy devices which helped fill volume gaps.
On second place is Apple, which was also the second brand that registered 3.3% YoY increase in sales. Their performance was thanks to the strong performance of the 17 series which grew over 30% in China.
For the third, fourth and fifth place, those were set by Xiaomi, OPPO and vivo. Xiaomi maintained its position but had the steepest decline among the 5 OEMs. OPPO had a stronger performance in China than in international markets. vivo closed its gap with its sibling OPPO thanks to its performance in the China market and in India.
| Company | 1Q26 Shipments | 1Q26 Market Share | 1Q25 Shipments | 1Q25 Market Share | Year-Over-Year Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Samsung | 62.8 | 21.7% | 60.6 | 20.1% | 3.6% |
| 2. Apple | 61.1 | 21.1% | 59.1 | 19.6% | 3.3% |
| 3. Xiaomi | 33.8 | 11.7% | 41.8 | 13.8% | -19.1% |
| 4. OPPO | 30.7 | 10.6% | 34.1 | 11.3% | -9.9% |
| 5. vivo | 21.2 | 7.3% | 22.7 | 7.5% | -6.8% |
| Others | 80.1 | 27.6% | 83.6 | 27.7% | -4.2% |
| Total | 289.7 | 100.0% | 302.0 | 100.0% | -4.1% |
Generally, global smartphone shipments decreased 4.1% YoY to 289.7 million units in Q1 2026. IDC sees as a precursor to what lies ahead for 2026 due to the supply constrains around memory thanks to AI.
Interesting enough, IDC gave an outlook of emerging markets where sub $200 are sold.
“However, emerging markets that focus on sub-$200 devices will offer consumers very few options as the growing cost of memory components will represent a larger challenge than what the pandemic delivered over five years ago,” IDC says in the report
“As the smartphone market shifts towards higher price points to offset increasing bill of materials (BOM) costs, all vendors continue to face intense pressure, especially the ones with higher exposure to low-end devices,” they added.
It will be interesting to see how the market fairs in Q2 2026 due to the increasing constraints of memory on the smartphone market. In Africa, this may become a potential problem and we have to see how the manufacturers will navigate that.
