Global smartphone AP industry, 4Q 2025

DIGITIMES forecasts that global smartphone AP shipments will reach approximately 270 million units in the first quarter of 2026, a year-on-year decrease of 10% and a quarter-on-quarter decrease of 16.5%. Soaring memory prices are the main reason for suppressing smartphone brands' inventory build-up momentum.

With the profit margin structure of LTE smartphones more sensitive to rising memory costs, LTE AP shipments will see an estimated year-on-year decrease of 23.1%, a significantly larger drop than that of 5G APs. Looking ahead to 2026, memory cost pressures will remain the main factor affecting smartphone brands' willingness to build up AP inventory, leading to a 5.4% year-on-year decrease in overall smartphone AP shipments.

The rising memory prices are forcing some handset brand vendors to give up the low-margin LTE smartphone market segment, where the number of users has been gradually shrinking in recent years.