Apple grabs 65% premium smartphone market
Apple grabbed 65% share of the growing premium smartphone market in the first half of the year. Apple and Samsung’s combined share of this market increased to 84% in H1 2026 from 82% in H1 2025.
What’s better? A $600 Android or a reconditioned iPhone 15 Pro?
The premium market, defined as devices with an ASP of $600 or more, is itself expected to grow as memory price inflation forces more and more vendors to raise prices. Premium OEMs such as Apple were better able to absorb these costs through higher margins and reduced promotions.
Senior Analyst Harshit Rastogi said, “Rising memory and component costs are reshaping smartphone pricing and creating opportunities for OEMs to accelerate premiumization…
“To support this shift, OEMs are expanding financing, trade-in and buyback programs to improve affordability. Samsung has also expanded its Galaxy Forever program to several markets to make flagship devices more accessible.”
Market shifts
He noted that price increases across mid-segment Android smartphones bring those prices into line with those of premium smartphones, especially older or discounted flagship models. This basically means the devices that used to cost $400 now cost almost as much as an older, second-hand iPhone Pro. In many cases, higher-end smartphones are a better option in this range.
No surprise then that Apple registered 9% YoY growth in H1 2026, driven by the strong performance of the iPhone 17 series, especially the base model.
Counterpoint also notes that Apple’s premium segment share declined from 74% in H1 2022, primarily due to intensified competition in China, the largest premium smartphone market. Chinese OEMs such as Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO and vivo are offering their own premium devices which are taking a chunk out of iPhone sales.
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