New Delhi, Oct. 13 -- Buyers holding on to older phones and manufacturers pulling back from low-margin models helped push global smartphone shipments down 20% year over year in the third quarter of 2026, according to preliminary Counterpoint Research estimates. The July-to-September total was the lowest for a third quarter since 2012, as a memory-chip shortage made handsets more expensive to build and harder to sell profitably.

The Counterpoint Research report, published October 12, puts the pressure on the mass market at the centre of the downturn. Samsung and Apple increased their shares of worldwide shipments even though both shipped fewer phones than a year earlier. Their gains reflect a sharper contraction among rivals, not an indus...