Phone shipments just fell to their lowest point in 14 years, and the cause has nothing to do with people losing interest in phones.
According to market research firm Counterpoint, global smartphone shipments dropped 20 percent year-over-year in the third quarter of 2026, the weakest quarter since 2012. Counterpoint blames "relentless increases" in memory chip prices, which have disrupted production and shipping for manufacturers including Samsung and Apple. Those companies passed the added cost on to buyers, and retail smartphone prices rose 20 percent over the course of 2026. Faced with pricier phones, shoppers are hanging onto older devices longer or skipping the low end entirely for premium models.
The split in who's weathering this is the real story. Samsung's market share actually climbed to 23 percent, propped up by steady mid-range Galaxy A-series sales and strong demand for the premium Galaxy Z Fold 8. Apple also gained share even as its shipments fell 22 percent, which Counterpoint ties to the absence of a base iPhone 18 model in September; that phone is reportedly being held back to early 2027.
In other words, a memory chip squeeze is quietly reshaping product strategy: companies with strong premium and loyal mid-range lineups are absorbing the hit better than anyone selling on volume alone. It's a strange kind of symmetry that shipments have dropped back to 2012 levels, a year when smartphones were still a luxury rather than a fixture in every pocket. This time, it's not that fewer people want phones. It's that the chips inside them got expensive, and manufacturers are betting buyers will pay up or wait it out.