Samsung SoC shipments projected to go up in 2026 despite market slowdown

Counterpoint Research has published a report forecasting global smartphone chipset shipments for 2026. According to the firm, overall shipments of smartphone SoCs are expected to decline by 7% year over year (YoY). This slowdown is expected to affect the four largest mobile chipset vendors — MediaTek, Qualcomm, Apple, and UniSoC — all of which are forecast to ship fewer chips this year.

Samsung, however, is expected to move against the trend, with its smartphone SoC shipments projected to rise by around three percentage points in 2026. That makes the South Korean tech giant the only major vendor expected to grow in a year marked by broad contraction across the chipset market. It raises an important question: What is helping Samsung stand apart while others lose momentum?

The primary reason behind the overall SoC shipment slowdown is the sharp rise in memory prices. Demand for AI has surged in recent years, with most AI workloads running on servers that require large amounts of memory. This has significantly increased demand for memory chips, driving their prices higher and pushing up smartphone manufacturing costs across all segments.

To offset these higher costs, smartphone brands are raising device prices. Take Samsung, for example. It has hiked the prices of some Galaxy A series phones in India. As mobiles become more expensive, fewer consumers may upgrade, especially in the entry-level segment. This slowdown is expected to reduce phone sales volumes and, in turn, lower demand for the SoCs that power more affordable devices.

MediaTek is expected to take the hardest hit, as it is the dominant supplier of entry-level chipsets, with its smartphone SoC shipments projected to decline by around 8 percentage points in 2026 compared to 2025. Demand for mid-range and premium phones is also expected to weaken. As a result, Qualcomm’s shipments are forecast to fall by about 2 percentage points, while Apple’s SoC shipments are expected to decline by roughly 1 percentage point.

Samsung, on the other hand, is projected to increase its smartphone SoC shipments by around 3 percentage points. This growth is likely driven by the South Korean tech giant adopting the Exynos 2600 SoC for the Galaxy S26 and Galaxy S26+ in many regions. The brand uses Exynos chipsets for its mid-range smartphones as well. Stronger sales of these devices may also be the reason behind the brand shipping higher SoCs this year. This could further increase the revenue of Samsung Foundry, which makes the Exynos chipsets.