MediaTek and Qualcomm’s shipments declined by more than 25% YoY in H1 2026. Meanwhile, Apple, Samsung, Google and UNISOC posted sturdy shipment growth during the period, each for distinct reasons detailed below.

Commenting on the smartphone SoC player dynamics, Senior Analyst Shivani Parashar said, “Apple’s market share increased by 4% in H1 2026 from H1 2025, driven by the impressive performance of the iPhone 17 series. Qualcomm and MediaTek, on the other hand, lost share, although for different reasons. Qualcomm’s premium segment saw limited growth, as the Samsung Galaxy S26 series adopted both the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and Samsung’s own Exynos 2600 – unlike its predecessor, which ran entirely on Qualcomm silicon. Softer sales of the Xiaomi 17 series added further pressure on Qualcomm’s premium shipments. Meanwhile, MediaTek took a hit in its low-end and entry-level 5G chipsets from the ongoing memory crisis, although its premium 9500 series is performing well on the back of design wins with vivo, OPPO, Pocophone and Redmi.”

Parashar added, “Many entry-level smartphone models are migrating to UNISOC’s 4G platforms in efforts to reduce BoM costs, helping UNISOC achieve growth in H1 2026. Additionally, UNISOC is making significant progress in 5G adoption through partnerships with Pocophone and Redmi.”

Global Smartphone SoC Shipments Share by Vendor, H1 2025 vs H1 2026

Smartphone memory prices skyrocketed more than 300% YoY in Q2 2026, prompting OEMs to aggressively secure long-term supply contracts – either to navigate the shortage or to capitalize on it and gain share. Consequently, rising device costs are being driven primarily by memory pricing rather than hardware specification upgrades. Yet even against this cost pressure, GenAI smartphone SoC shipments grew by 24% YoY in H1 2026, as premiumization trends and rising consumer demand for AI features continued to lift shipments in the mid-high, premium and flagship price tiers.

Commenting on the smartphone SoC market outlook, Principal Analyst Soumen Mandal said, “Global smartphone SoC shipments are expected to decline by 14% YoY in 2026. The entry-level market is set to be the most severely affected with shipments likely to fall by more than 30% YoY this year. In H1 2026, smartphone memory costs surpassed SoC costs across all price segments and we do not expect the memory supply to normalize before H2 2027, which means the smartphone industry could experience another difficult year in 2027.”

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