According to Omdia, the global smartphone market shrank 20% in Q3 2026. Needless to say, the memory crisis that has been present for a while affected the smartphone industry quite a bit and caused this.
The global smartphone market shrank 20% in Q3 2026, while Samsung & Apple hold 45% of it
The “rising memory and storage costs put increasing pressure on vendors and reshape the competitive landscape,” says Omdia. The source also notes that Samsung and Apple alone managed to grab 45% of the smartphone market in Q3 2026.
As part of this report, Omdia released the top 5 smartphone OEMs in Q3 2026. Samsung is still the top dog with 23% of the market share, but it’s closely followed by Apple, as the company holds 22% of the market.
Samsung managed to grow 4% YoY, and the same goes for Apple, actually. The two companies stood at 19% and 18% back in Q3 2025. Those are also the only two top 5 companies that marked YoY growth.
Xiaomi is still third-placed, as it holds 12% of the smartphone market, but the company’s market share dropped by 2% YoY. Xiaomi stood at 14% back in Q3 2025.
OPPO and Vivo close out the top 5 list
OPPO is fourth with 9% of the market, which is a 3% drop YoY. Vivo rounds out the top 5 list with 8% of the market, which is a 1% drop from 9% that the company held a year ago.
That leaves all the other companies with 27% of the market, which is down from 29% that they held in Q3 2025.
Omdia notes that Samsung managed to increase its market share despite a year-on-year decline in shipments. It is also noted that the Galaxy Z Fold 8 series and Galaxy Z Flip 8 launch in August supported the company’s premium positioning.
The continued demand for the iPhone 17 family helped Apple, alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max launch that occurred in September. The iPhone Duo will go on pre-order tomorrow, so it will help Apple in Q4, that’s for sure.
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