Here's a tale of two chip markets. While the overall smartphone chipset business is feeling the squeeze, Apple is quietly taking a bigger slice of the pie.
According to Counterpoint Research's quarterly report on smartphone processors, Apple's chipset shipments ticked up slightly year-over-year in the second quarter. The hero? The iPhone 17 series, particularly the Pro models, which are selling better than their predecessors. Counterpoint expects A19-series shipments to outpace the A18 series, citing stronger demand across regions.
Apple now holds 19% of the smartphone chipset market. That puts it behind MediaTek, which leads with 31%, but ahead of Qualcomm's 23%.
Qualcomm, meanwhile, is having a rougher time. Its shipments fell year-over-year, and Counterpoint points to a few culprits. For one, Samsung is using its own Exynos 2600 chip in the base Galaxy S26 models in some regions, which eats into Qualcomm's premium market. On top of that, the memory shortage and inventory buildup are hurting shipments of its Snapdragon 600- and 400-series chips.
MediaTek is in a similar boat. Its shipments also declined year-over-year, with memory constraints weighing on mainstream and entry-level products. Even its premium Dimensity 9000 series is feeling the pinch from weaker device sales.
But not everyone is struggling. Samsung's Exynos chips actually saw shipments increase, thanks to the Galaxy S26 series and strong midrange demand from the Exynos 1680 in the Galaxy A57 and the Exynos 1480 in the Galaxy A37.
The broader picture, though, is still gloomy. Global smartphone shipments fell 21% year-over-year in Q2, largely due to higher memory costs and cautious inventory management. Both MediaTek and Qualcomm saw their shipments drop by more than 30%.
As for Apple's stock, shares were down 0.31% at $315.25 in premarket trading on Wednesday.
So while the smartphone chip market is in a slump, Apple is managing to buck the trend. The question is whether this momentum can continue as memory costs and inventory issues persist.
