It's no longer a big secret that the smartphone market is going through an unprecedented crisis, with quarterly shipments estimated to have gone down by as much as 11 percent year-on-year between April and June due largely to rising component costs that have forced most major (and minor) vendors to increase product prices since the beginning of 2026.
But in certain aspects, the global mobile industry is actually growing, with smartphone revenue up by a solid 7 percent in the same timeframe that saw that drastic aforementioned volume decline, and according to a brand-new Counterpoint Research report, a 5 percent jump in premium sales noticed between January and June of this year compared to H1 2025.
Two brands hold 84 percent of this pivotal segment
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what two brands I'm talking about here, and of course, the 84 percent share is a combination of Apple and Samsung's latest slices of the global premium smartphone market.
At first glance, only two brands matter in the global premium smartphone market segment. | Image by Counterpoint Research
You will probably not be surprised to hear that Apple's contribution to that mind-blowing number is a lot larger than Samsung's, although believe it or not, the Cupertino-based tech giant accounted for an even bigger slice of the premium pie than 65 percent just four years ago.
Back then, an incredible 74 percent of the premium handsets shipped around the world were iPhones, and after that share dropped all the way down to 63 percent in H1 2025, the number is up to 65 percent now, keeping Samsung at a large distance in second place.
Do you own a "premium" smartphone?
But Samsung's 19 percent market share is actually up from 17 percent in H1 2022 and virtually unchanged from last year despite a 3 percent year-over-year boost in premium smartphone shipments.
What about everyone else?
At first glance, the combined 16 percent share of all other vendors besides Apple and Samsung looks like... a pretty embarrassing result. But Apple and Samsung's 9 and 3 percent improvements in premium smartphone sales pale in comparison with Vivo and Oppo's monumental 20 and 69 percent surges, respectively, in the same market segment between H1 2025 and H1 2026.
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The Find X9 Pro is clearly one of Oppo's most successful premium smartphones ever. | Image by PhoneArena
Naturally, Oppo's latest jump is the industry's largest, with the Find X9 series proving the brand's main growth driver, although Vivo can also definitely be proud of the X300 family's performance during the first six months of this year, especially compared to the X200 series last year.
For Apple, the iPhone 17 roster and the base model in particular were the driving forces behind the company's aforementioned 9 percent progress, while Samsung can probably be happy that the Galaxy S26 series led to an improvement (no matter how modest) over the Galaxy S25 family given the late release of the new ultra-high-end handset trio.
Why is the premium segment so important?
Simple: costlier phones tend to generate higher profit margins than budget-friendly low-enders and mid-rangers, and for the purposes of this report (and others like it), mobile devices priced at $600 and up are considered "premium."
The premium Galaxy S26 and iPhone 17 Pro are clearly among Samsung and Apple's most profitable mobile devices. | Image by PhoneArena
Obviously, the number of premium models has increased with the latest industry-wide price hikes, leading to a somewhat natural expansion of the segment, which now accounts for 29 percent of the market's total volume (up from 25 percent in the first six months of 2025).
But consumers could have resisted this expansion by simply refusing to pay the new premiums charged by brands like Samsung, Oppo, and Vivo and settling on humbler (and humbler) devices with lower price points than $600, which has evidently not happened and is unlikely to happen anytime soon. That's right, the smartphone market's "premiumization" is expected to continue and even "accelerate" over the next few quarters, even as overall shipments are likely to continue their decline.
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Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
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