Apple, Samsung Dodge Worst of Smartphone Chip Meltdown

What happened

Counterpoint Research said global smartphone chip shipments fell 21% year over year in the third quarter of 2026. Apple and Samsung handled the downturn better because of integrated supply chains and a shift toward premium devices, while UNISOC and MediaTek faced more pressure from mid- and low-end phones.

Confirmed

Global impact / market context

Apple's stronger position means its phone business may hold up better than rivals that sell more cheap phones. MediaTek and UNISOC sell more chips for lower-priced devices, so a weak market there can hit their revenue and profit per sale harder than Apple's.

Analyst inference

Chipmakers are dealing with rising memory costs, longer phone replacement cycles and careful inventory management by phone makers, which means they order fewer chips. Apple and Samsung's own supply chains give them more control over costs, while Qualcomm also faces Samsung splitting Galaxy S26 chip orders.

Analyst inference

What to watch

1. Counterpoint expects new flagship chips from Apple, MediaTek and Qualcomm, all made on Taiwan Semiconductor's 2nm process, to support premium chip shipments in the fourth quarter. Confirmed
2. Watch whether premium chip volumes recover toward last year's levels, since Counterpoint still expects them to stay below year-ago levels despite the new flagship launches. Analyst inference
3. Watch whether memory costs keep rising and phone makers keep ordering cautiously, since those pressures hit mid- and low-end chip suppliers like MediaTek and UNISOC hardest. Analyst inference

Evidence

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