US smartphone sales fell 5% year over year in Q2 2026 as rising memory and storage costs pushed prices higher, with the biggest impact landing on cheaper smartphones and smaller manufacturers that had less room to absorb those increases.
Counterpoint Research says combined sales for Apple, Samsung, Motorola, and Google declined 4% during the quarter, while the rest of the US smartphone market fell 45% as smaller brands struggled with higher component costs and weaker demand.
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The pressure was strongest at the bottom of the market, where sales of smartphones priced below $100 dropped 64% year over year. Some manufacturers stopped shipping those devices, while others raised prices as higher RAM and storage costs made their existing pricing difficult to maintain.
Samsung and Motorola benefited from that shift in the prepaid market, where carriers increasingly relied on Galaxy A Series and Moto G Series phones as smaller brands lost ground. Motorola also raised prices on several Moto G models, while Samsung increased the Galaxy A17 price by $50 in July.
Counterpoint Research also expects average smartphone selling prices to rise again in Q3 2026, with Apple expected to increase prices across parts of the iPhone 18 lineup.
That change would have a large effect on the US market because Apple typically accounts for more than half of third-quarter smartphone sales, while carrier subsidies will play an important role in determining how strongly customers respond to higher iPhone prices.
Apple recently reported $54.2 billion in quarterly iPhone revenue, up 22% year over year, while also warning that memory costs and supply constraints will become more severe during the September quarter.
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