Feb 26 – The worldwide smartphone market is poised to endure its largest decline ever in 2026, sinking to a greater than decade low in shipments, as surging memory chip costs drive up machine prices, the Worldwide Information Company mentioned on Thursday.
Smartphone shipments are anticipated to drop 12.9% to 1.12 billion items, the analysis agency mentioned in a report.
The decline will hit low-end Android producers the toughest, whereas Apple and Samsung are positioned to achieve market share as smaller rivals wrestle or exit the market solely, the report mentioned.
“What we’re witnessing is just not a brief squeeze, however a tsunami-like shock originating in the memory provide chain,” mentioned Francisco Jeronimo, vp for Worldwide Consumer Units at IDC.
Analysts have mentioned rising element prices will erode margins at smartphone firms targeted on finances units, forcing them to move on the bills to customers at a time when demand at increased price factors is weakening.
Apple and Samsung, with stronger stability sheets and premium positioning, are higher outfitted to climate the disaster, IDC mentioned.
The common promoting price of smartphones is projected to surge 14% to a document $523 this yr, as producers shift towards higher-margin fashions to offset ballooning prices.
IDC expects a modest 2% restoration in 2027 because the disaster eases, adopted by a 5.2% rebound in 2028, although it mentioned that the market was unlikely to return to earlier norms.
“The memory disaster will trigger greater than a brief decline; it marks a structural reset of your entire market,” mentioned Nabila Popal, senior analysis director at IDC’s Cell Cellphone Tracker.
She warned that the sub-$100 smartphone section, representing 171 million units, will turn out to be “completely uneconomical” even after memory costs stabilize by mid-2027.
This text was generated from an automatic information company feed with out modifications to textual content.
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