{"id":677943,"date":"2026-06-01T13:53:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T13:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/677943\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T13:53:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T13:53:13","slug":"global-smartphone-market-faces-record-annual-decline-as-chip-crunch-worsens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/677943\/","title":{"rendered":"Global smartphone market faces record annual decline as chip crunch worsens"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Che Pan and Casey Hall<\/p>\n

BEIJING, June 1 (Reuters) – The global smartphone market is heading for its steepest annual contraction on record, with shipments projected to slump by 13.9% \u200cthis year to 1.08 billion units, Counterpoint Research said on Monday, citing a worsening shortage \u200cof memory chips.<\/p>\n

The forecast is a downgrade from the 12.4% decline projected in February, with the squeeze in global chip \u200bsupply exacerbated by the Iran war.<\/p>\n

IMPACT MOST ACUTE AT BUDGET END OF MARKET<\/p>\n

The impact is being felt most acutely in lower-end smartphones<\/a> as chipmakers shift production capacity to AI-related chips, making entry-level devices less economical to produce.<\/p>\n

Global smartphone wholesale prices rose 14% in the first quarter while shipments fell 3.1% year on year. \u200cThat trend is expected to continue \u2060as inventory built before the supply shock becomes depleted, with some models priced below $150 likely to disappear from the market.<\/p>\n

“Smartphone makers in the low and mid-tier \u2060are caught between cost increases they cannot absorb and consumers with limited spending power,” said Wang Yang, a principal analyst at Counterpoint, an independent research company that publishes quarterly smartphone shipment data.<\/p>\n

“The question is no longer \u200bhow \u200bto grow shipments or market share, but whether to \u200bremain in the market at all.”<\/p>\n

The memory \u200cchip shortage is the most severe supply-side disruption the smartphone industry has faced, Wang said, adding that manufacturers are unable to offset the impact through pricing or product changes.<\/p>\n

PREMIUM END OF THE MARKET MORE RESILIENT<\/p>\n

The premium segment has proven more resilient. Apple<\/a> posted record revenue for the first three months of the year, helped by customers upgrading to its iPhone 17 series. Apple’s 2026 shipments are expected \u200cto remain flat before rising 5% next year, Counterpoint \u200bprojections show.<\/p>\n

With more stable chip supply and stronger margins than \u200bmany rivals, Apple is well placed to \u200bgain market share and could face less pressure to raise prices.<\/p>\n

Samsung Electronics kept \u200cvolumes steady in the first quarter and is \u200bexpected by Counterpoint to \u200bregister only a 4% decline in shipments over the full year, outperforming the wider market thanks to stable supply and a consistent product line-up.<\/p>\n

Transsion, which is heavily exposed to the market \u200bfor smartphones priced below $150, is \u200cforecast to suffer a 32% drop in shipments this year. Rivals Xiaomi and Honor, meanwhile, \u200bare projected to post full-year declines of 28% and 20% respectively, Counterpoint said.<\/p>\n

(Reporting by \u200bChe Pan and Casey HallEditing by David Goodman)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Che Pan and Casey Hall BEIJING, June 1 (Reuters) – The global smartphone market is heading for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":677944,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[139786,295578,108100,45628,165,74,164745],"class_list":["post-677943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mobile","tag-chip-shortage","tag-chip-supply","tag-counterpoint-research","tag-market-share","tag-mobile","tag-technology","tag-wang-yang"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=677943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/677944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=677943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=677943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=677943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}