Smartphone AP Shipments Plunge 21%... Apple and Samsung Expand Market Share

Global shipments in the market for mobile application processors (APs), which act as the brains of smartphones, have contracted sharply, plunging by more than 20%.

As the fallout from rising memory prices and longer device replacement cycles concentrated on the mid-to-low-end market, Apple and Samsung Electronics—backed by vertically integrated supply chains and premium strategies—actually managed to boost their market shares.

According to Counterpoint Research today (November 3), global smartphone system-on-chip (SoC) shipments in the third quarter of this year decreased by 21% compared to the same period last year.

This was the result of a combination of factors, including rising unit costs for memory components, longer device replacement cycles among consumers, and conservative inventory management by smartphone manufacturers.

While the premium segment was also affected as manufacturers reduced the number of entry-level models to defend profitability, the blow was heavily concentrated on the mid-to-low-end sector, with the premium sector holding up relatively well.


By company, Apple and Samsung Electronics expanded their market shares.

Apple's market share rose from 17% in the third quarter of last year to 21% in the third quarter of this year, while Samsung Electronics also increased from 6% to 8%.

On the other hand, UNISOC and MediaTek, which have high concentrations in the mid-to-low-end and entry-level segments, saw their market shares decline.

Qualcomm's market share also dropped.

This was analyzed to be due to Samsung Electronics internalizing a portion of its volume by adopting a dual-sourcing strategy of Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and its proprietary chipset (Exynos 2600) for the Galaxy S26 series, compounded by sluggish sales among Chinese manufacturers.

Although new flagship products are scheduled for release in the fourth quarter, market recovery is expected to be limited.

"While flagship chipsets built on TSMC's (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.) 2-nanometer process will be released one after another to drive up premium shipments in the fourth quarter, total volume is highly likely to remain below the level of the same period last year," projected Shivani Parashar, a senior research analyst at Counterpoint.

(Photo provided by Counterpoint Research, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.