The S26 Ultra is one of the best-selling phones in the US right now. | Image by PhoneArena
The global smartphone market is going through some tough times, with Q1 2026 sales down 6 percent from the same period of 2025 and full-year numbers expected to shrink even more due to rising memory chip costs, but certain regions, brands, and models are evidently capable of weathering the storm better than others.
In the US, for instance, Samsung and Apple enjoyed a few unusually strong weeks on the heels of their latest high-profile product announcements to end this year's first quarter on a high note, although it's not yet clear if that was enough to boost the two's local volumes over their respective shipment figures of Q1 2025.
The S26 Ultra is WAY more successful than the S26, S26 Plus, and S25 Ultra
Is it a little premature to call Samsung's newest jumbo-sized super-flagship a massive box-office hit the likes of which the mobile industry has never witnessed before? Perhaps, but at a whopping 71 percent of the Galaxy S26 family's US sales during the first three calendar weeks of availability, it's definitely not too early to deem the latest Ultra model a significantly bigger hit than its predecessor.
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That's an impressive improvement for the S26 family and a solid surge for the Ultra model. | Image by Counterpoint Research
The Galaxy S25 Ultra, mind you, only accounted for 61 percent of its respective high-end handset trio's first three weeks of US sales last year, which at the time was actually viewed as a great achievement for the costly 6.9-inch Snapdragon 8 Elite powerhouse.
Obviously, that makes the Galaxy S26 Ultra's 71 percent feat even more remarkable, especially when you consider that the S26 series improved on the initial S25 series demand stateside by a solid 29 percent. Ironically, the later release of this year's super-premium Samsung smartphone trio may have contributed to that increase, boosting a lot of potential buyers' excitement and driving higher initial upgrade rates.
The iPhone 17e is surprisingly beating the iPhone 16e
That's apparently a surprise for both Apple and independent market analysts, as 17e sales were originally predicted as "softer" compared to the 16e this time last year. Evidently, that's not the case (at least for now), as the new low-cost model generated 15 percent higher demand than its e-branded predecessor over the first three weeks of US availability.
What should Samsung and Apple learn from the S26 Ultra and iPhone 17e's success?
That's an excellent improvement at a time of overall market stagnation, and just like the Galaxy S26 Ultra, the iPhone 17e clearly benefited greatly from an unchanged starting price over the iPhone 16e back in the spring of 2025, as well as increased storage in an entry-level configuration and other key upgrades in the raw power, camera, and charging departments.
As it turns out, the notch is not a total dealbreaker for Apple fans in 2026, especially when the iPhone 17e was so easy to come by at a big discount (of up to 100 percent) right off the bat (with new lines and/or trade-ins).
The "weak" US smartphone market was "rejuvenated" in March
You probably didn't need Counterpoint Research to tell you that March 2026 was a good month for several top smartphone vendors in the US, including Google. But the Pixel 10a, iPhone 17e, and Galaxy S26 Ultra actually did not push the country's overall handset sales as high as you might imagine, only lifting them by 5 percent in the three weeks following these new model launches compared to the same timeframe of last year.
Curiously enough, the full US smartphone sales figures for Q1 2026 are not out yet, but given how weak the market probably was in January and February, I doubt this relatively small growth will make the quarterly total better than the one reported back in Q1 2025.
Who will come out on top at the end of the year?
That's obviously a silly question that can only have one answer regardless of how much stronger Samsung's Galaxy S26 Ultra demand continues to prove compared to that of the S25 Ultra last year.
The iPhone 17e will clearly be just a small part of Apple's US success story this year. | Image by PhoneArena
Apple, remember, absolutely crushed Samsung 69 to 13 percent in market share in the US during Q4 2025, and whether the iPhone Ultra (aka iPhone Fold) will be ready for primetime in September or December, the gap between the nation's number one and number two vendors is expected to remain similar in Q4 2026, leading to yet another convincing full-year victory for the Cupertino-based tech giant.
The more interesting question is how US sales will continue to evolve this year, and while it's clearly a bit early to be sure of anything, I expect the market to finish 2026 with a significantly lower score than 2025. That's just the state of the mobile industry right now, and there's little Apple and Samsung can do to stop the bleeding.
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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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