Global smartphone AP industry, 1Q 2026: Memory price hikes pressure smartphone AP market

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DIGITIMES estimates that global smartphone application processor (AP) shipments will decline 15.2% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2026, driven by weakening end-market demand. In the second half of 2025, smartphone brands were able to delay passing rising memory costs onto consumers, thanks to existing inventory and pre-negotiated contract pricing. However, starting in the fourth quarter of 2025, average prices for LPDDR and NAND flash began to rise, prompting several China-based smartphone brands to raise retail prices in the first quarter of 2026. These price adjustments initially affected mid-to-high-end models before extending to entry-level devices. Since the beginning of the second quarter of 2026, memory price increases have widened further to 50–80%, severely impacting cost-sensitive Chinese smartphone brands. As a result, DIGITIMES estimates that shipments from China's smartphone vendors will decline 17.8% year-on-year in the same quarter, becoming the primary driver of the overall AP shipment downturn. Chart 1: Key factors affecting global smartphone AP shipments in 2Q26: Demand/Supply Chart 2: Key factors affecting global smartphone AP shipments in 2Q26: Baseband Chart 3: Global smartphone AP shipments, 4Q24-2Q26 (m units) Chart 4: Shipments and share by baseband type, 4Q24-2Q26 (m units) Chart 11: MediaTek smartphone AP shipments, 4Q24-2Q26 (m units) Chart 12: MediaTek shipments by baseband type, 4Q24-2Q26 (m units) Chart 13: MediaTek shipment share by baseband type, 4Q24-2Q26 Chart 14: Qualcomm smartphone AP shipments, 4Q24-2Q26 (m units) Chart 15: Qualcomm shipments by baseband type, 4Q24-2Q26 (m units) Chart 16: Qualcomm shipment share by baseband type, 4Q24-2Q26 Chart 17: Apple smartphone AP shipments, 4Q24-2Q26 (m units) Chart 18: Samsung smartphone AP shipments, 4Q24-2Q26 (m units) Chart 19: Samsung shipments by baseband type, 4Q24-2Q26 (m units) Chart 20: Samsung shipment share by baseband type, 4Q24-2Q26 Chart 21: Unisoc smartphone AP shipments, 4Q24-2Q26 (m units) Chart 22: Unisoc shipments by baseband type, 4Q24-2Q26 (m units) Chart 24: Hisilicon smartphone AP shipments, 4Q24-2Q26 (m units) Chart 25: Hisilicon shipments by baseband type, 4Q24-2Q26 (m units) Chart 26: Hisilicon shipment share by baseband type, 4Q24-2Q26 Chart 27: Google smartphone AP shipments, 4Q24-2Q26 (m units) Chart 28: Xiaomi smartphone AP shipments, 2Q25-2Q26 (m units)