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According to IDC ‘s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker , India’s smartphone shipments declined 11.1% year over year to 33.2 million units in Q2 2026, as the ongoing global memory chip shortage kept component costs elevated and squeezed affordability across price bands. H1 2026 shipments fell to 64.2 million units, down 7.9% YoY, the lowest first-half volume in five years, even as market value grew 3.6% YoY. With average selling prices at record highs and vendors pulling back on discounts to protect margins, India’s price-sensitive buyers are likely to stay under pressure through the second half of the year.
Q2 2026 confirms this downturn isn’t spread evenly across the market. The memory cost surge is rewarding brands with scale and premium portfolios while hitting those anchored to low-end volume hardest.
- Apple: Shipments held largely flat, constrained by supply shortages on the iPhone 15, 16, and 17. Despite the shortage, the iPhone 17 remained the top-shipped device consecutively for Q1/Q2’26. Consumer demand remained strong at its core, though it cooled somewhat as affordability offers grew scarce.
- Samsung: Shipments stayed largely flat, placing it alongside Apple as one of the few brands that maintained ground in a shrinking market. A diversified portfolio and greater scale allowed Samsung to absorb rising costs without sacrificing volume or margins.
- Chinese brands: Faced the sharpest exposure, as their traditional strength in the low-end and mass-budget segments worked against them. Cost cutting and portfolio shifts toward higher-margin models were underway, but the harder challenge was convincing price-sensitive buyers raised on budget positioning to accept meaningfully higher price tags. With financing options narrowing the price gap between segments, several leading Chinese manufacturers saw sharper, double-digit declines as demand tilted toward brands with stronger scale and supply chain stability.
