Report: iPhone sales rise 10% as global smartphone market declines for ninth straight week

A new report from Counterpoint Research shows that while the smartphone market just had its ninth consecutive week of declining sales, Apple and Huawei saw double-digit increases year-over-year. Here are the details.

Apple and Huawei counter market-wide slump

In the report, Counterpoint says iPhone sales rose 10% year-over-year between May 11 and May 17, 2026, even as the overall smartphone market declined 8%.

The report notes that this marked the 9th consecutive week of contraction, with Huawei as the second exception, reporting a 23% year-over-year increase in sales.

Among the remaining top five vendors, Samsung saw sales fall 1%, followed by Oppo at 10%, Xiaomi at 17%, and Vivo at 19%. Sales across all other brands collectively declined 19%.

Counterpoint said that not even promotional events in China and in India managed to rekindle demand, in light of the recent “price increases, product launch realignments, and aggressive cost-optimization tactics” that OEMs had to make in response to the market-wide memory shortage.

Here’s Tarun Pathak, Research Director at Counterpoint Research:

“It is now clear that memory prices will remain high for the rest of 2026, and OEMs have adjusted the playbook. To navigate these pressures, they are now implementing a mix of price increases, product launch realignments, and aggressive cost-optimization tactics, including devices ‘cutting corners on different features’ and more efficient channel management.”

Finally, Counterpoint says that the notable gap between Apple and Huawei, and the rest of the market, is the result of “differences in supply chain stability and pricing execution capabilities” becoming “more pronounced.”

Interestingly, the report comes just as Apple CEO Tim Cook confirmed that price increases are coming to the company’s products due to RAM shortage.

One thing Cook didn’t elaborate on, however, was whether this means Apple will readjust prices for current devices, or increase prices as new products are announced.

To see Counterpoint’s full report, follow this link.

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