The significant price increase in global memory chips has directly dragged down overall sales across the global smartphone industry. While nearly the entire Android camp struggles with rising costs, Apple remains remarkably calm. Instead of cutting prices to boost volume, its overall performance continues to show positive growth, completely decoupling from the broader market trend.
According to the latest smartphone industry report released by market research firm Counterpoint Research, although the overall markets in India, Latin America, and Europe—three core smartphone regions—shrank to varying degrees this year, Apple's market share in all three regions rose against the trend, outperforming all broader market data.
During the statistical period from late March to early August this year, India's overall smartphone sales dropped by 14% compared to the same period in 2025, with the broader market declining by nearly 20%.
However, strong local consumer demand for upgrading to the iPhone 17, combined with Apple's continuous launch of localized purchase incentives, led to a significant 15% year-on-year sales increase for Apple in India, outperforming all Android competitors.
In the Latin American market, total smartphone shipments in the second quarter of this year fell by 10% year-on-year, marking the largest annual drop since the third quarter of 2023.
Major Android brands such as Motorola, Honor, and Xiaomi saw their market shares shrink to varying degrees. Apple and Samsung were the only two brands in the Latin American market to achieve positive growth, with increases of 5% and 6%, respectively.
The European market also performed poorly, with overall smartphone shipments in the second quarter falling by 10% year-on-year. Total volume reached only 35 million units, marking the worst second-quarter shipment performance in nearly three years.
Apple's market share in this region instead increased by 9 percentage points against the trend, ultimately tying with Samsung for first place with a 34% market share each.
Meanwhile, China's smartphone market saw an 8.6% year-on-year decline in the first 30 weeks of this year.
Following the end of the 618 shopping festival, major retail channels simultaneously reduced their discounts. With summer upgrade demand largely released during the promotional period, Apple's sales growth in China slowed from July onwards but still maintained a positive growth trend.
Counterpoint analysts also predict that the current tight supply and persistently high prices of memory chips will likely continue throughout the remainder of 2026. A full recovery for the global smartphone market is not expected until at least 2028.
After reviewing this industry data, many netizens joked that the memory chip price hike forced Android manufacturers to significantly raise their starting prices, inadvertently making Apple, previously perceived as expensive, appear to offer better value for money. Many users who originally planned to buy mid-to-high-end Android phones switched to iPhones, delivering unexpected sales growth for Apple.
The shift in industry dynamics caused by this round of memory price increases also indirectly indicates that the traditional advantage of domestic Android manufacturers competing on price and value-for-money is difficult to sustain amid rising core component costs. Market share in the high-end segment is further concentrating towards top brands like Apple, which possess strong supply chain bargaining power. The Matthew Effect in the smartphone industry is expected to become increasingly pronounced.