Chinese smartphone brands are losing badly as Samsung holds the top spot

Samsung announced yesterday that its smartphone division reported a loss in the second quarter of this year (Q2 2026). While that may suggest that Galaxy phone sales have fallen, that is not the case. In fact, Samsung's smartphone sales improved compared to last year, and it remains the world's biggest smartphone brand.

A new market analysis report from Omdia reveals that Samsung shipped 60.5 million Galaxy phones during Q2 2026, capturing a 22% share of the global smartphone market. That represents a 5% increase in shipments compared to Q2 2025 and a two-percentage-point gain in market share.

This is good news for the company, especially as every major Chinese smartphone brand recorded a double-digit decline in shipments during the same period, despite offering more value for the money.

Apple ranked second with a 20% market share and a massive 24% increase in shipments compared to last year. The iPhone maker is gaining ground and is now within touching distance of Samsung. However, this is not the first time Apple has come so close to Samsung. It overtook Samsung in global smartphone market share in 2023 despite selling more expensive phones.

Xiaomi, which is known for selling value-for-money phones, shipped 31.2 million smartphones, nearly half as many as Samsung, and captured an 11% market share in Q2 2026. Its shipments declined by a whopping 26% compared to last year. These figures include shipments from its POCO and Redmi subsidiaries. It appears that rising memory chip costs are not the only reason for such a major decline.

OPPO is not doing much better. It shipped 28.4 million smartphones and captured a 10% share of the market. These figures include shipments from OnePlus and Realme, its subsidiaries. Overall, its shipments declined by 17% compared to Q2 2025.

Vivo shipped 21.5 million smartphones globally in Q2 2026 and captured an 8% market share. That represents a massive 18% decline in shipments compared to last year.

All other smartphone brands combined accounted for 75.2 million shipments and a 28% share of the global market. These brands include Motorola, Google, Huawei, Honor, Nothing, Infinix, ASUS, and Tecno. Together, their shipments declined by 10% compared to Q2 2025.

So, it appears that only Apple and Samsung are doing well in terms of smartphone sales right now. OnePlus and Realme are already exiting several countries, while Nothing is also rumored to be stopping sales in several regions.

Going forward, rising memory and processor chip prices are expected to increase further, and Chinese smartphone brands could be hit the hardest. The worst may be yet to come for these brands.