Global smartphone SoC shipments declined by 15% year-over-year (YoY) in the first half (H1) of 2026, hurt by rising memory costs, cautious inventory management by smartphone manufacturers and a longer replacement cycle, according to Counterpoint Research’s latest Global Smartphone SoC Shipments Preliminary View report.
A system on a chip, or system on chip (SoC), is an integrated circuit that combines most or all key components of a computer or electronic system onto a single microchip.
MediaTek and Qualcomm’s shipments declined by more than 25% YoY in H1 2026. Meanwhile, Apple, Samsung, Google and UNISOC posted sturdy shipment growth during the period.
Commenting on the smartphone SoC player dynamics, Senior Analyst Shivani Parashar said “Apple’s market share increased by 4% in H1 2026 from H1 2025, driven by the impressive performance of the iPhone 17 series … Many entry-level smartphone models are migrating to UNISOC’s 4G platforms in efforts to reduce BoM costs, helping UNISOC achieve growth in H1 2026. Additionally, UNISOC is making significant progress in 5G adoption through partnerships with Pocophone and Redmi.”
Smartphone memory prices skyrocketed more than 300% YoY in the second quarter of 2026, prompting manufacturers to aggressively secure long-term supply contracts – either to navigate the shortage or to capitalize on it and gain share, according to Counterpoint.
Consequently, rising device costs are being driven primarily by memory pricing rather than hardware specification upgrades, notes the research group. Yet even against this cost pressure, GenAI smartphone SoC shipments grew by 24% YoY in H1 2026, as premiumization trends and rising consumer demand for AI features continued to lift shipments in the mid-high, premium and flagship price tiers.
“Global smartphone SoC shipments are expected to decline by 14% YoY in 2026,” said Counterpoint Principal Analyst Soumen Mandal. “The entry-level market is set to be the most severely affected with shipments likely to fall by more than 30% YoY this year. In H1 2026, smartphone memory costs surpassed SoC costs across all price segments and we do not expect the memory supply to normalize before H2 2027, which means the smartphone industry could experience another difficult year in 2027.”
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