Last week, we told you about a report from Omdia that showed Apple’s iPhone smartphone grabbed a record 20% share of the global smartphone market in the second quarter of 2026, flying in the face of a 4% year-over-year drop in global smartphone shipments.
Apple enjoyed the best Q2 performance ever, during a time that is generally its slowest time of year. Omdia says Apple’s strong sales of its iPhone 17 lineup were partially due to holding the line against higher component costs for the handsets, and not raising the price of its iPhones when it raised prices on other devices it sells. It is widely believed though that Apple will eventually be forced to hike retail prices of its iPhones to recoup increased components costs.
The global memory chip shortage has pushed component costs sharply higher, with some companies charging several times more for memory over one year ago. Samsung was the sole other smartphone maker to see its market share grow, with a 22% share.
Now, preliminary figures released today by research firm IDC show an increase in Apple’s iPhone shipments in China of 24.4% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2026, making it the fastest-growing smartphone brand in the Chinese smartphone market, despite that market shrinking overall.
Total smartphone shipments in China fell 4.3%, with roughly 66 million units shipped, marking the fifth consecutive quarter of decline. Only Apple and Huawei saw improvement. (Huawei was up 19.4%.)
Apple’s improved numbers proved to be good for an 18.1% chunk of the Chinese market, up from 13.9% one year ago. Top dog Huawei’s share of the market rose 22.6%.
Xiaomi took the biggest hit among the big brands, with shipments down 21.7%.
IDC says the way the phone vendors reacted to the rising costs for memory and other components had a lot to do with their performance in the second quarter. While most Android smartphone makers began raising prices as early as March, both Apple and Huawei have so far held firm on their pricing.
Huawei’s increasing share of the market is also thanks to its ever-widening lineup, allowing the company to cover multiple tiers in the market. Meanwhile, Apple likely benefited from rumors of upcoming price increases, possibly pushing Apple customers to buy an iPhone sooner than they were planning to. “That gave hesitant buyers a reason to go ahead and purchase,” said IDC analyst Arthur Guo.
IDC doesn’t expect any big improvements in the state of the Chinese smartphone market over the next few years, with a 20% year-over-year decline in shipments a possibility for the second half of 2026. Storage prices are likely to continue their pressure on profits until at least 2027, with a broader recovery not expected until 2028 or later.