Samsung Electronics is betting big on artificial intelligence and foldable phones. The company hopes these technologies will drive what it calls a "second peak" in its smartphone business by 2026. This strategy comes as Samsung posts a sharp earnings rebound, fueled by surging demand for high-end memory chips.

The surge in AI computing has led to a significant price increase in DRAM and NAND Flash, with major manufacturers raising prices by up to 30% in late 2025, putting cost pressure on Chinese smartphone brands and retailers.

Every year's new flagship phones bring questions regarding pricing. This year, Samsung's Galaxy S26 series is expected to see a price increase from its predecessor. As the memory market heats up and core component prices increase, smartphone makers are facing cost pressures.

Leading electronics contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn) reported October 2025 revenue of NT$895.71 billion (US$28.99 billion), up 7% sequentially and 11.29% year over year, driven by the continued AI boom and peak season for smartphone shipments. The company's cumulative revenue for January to October 2025 reached NT$6.39 trillion, marking a 15.55% increase compared to the NT$5.53 trillion in the same period of 2024.

Pre-order performance of Vivo's X300 series and Oppo's Find X9 series flagship smartphones has exceeded expectations. To meet user demands for improved performance and telephoto shooting, both brands have offered telephoto lenses as bundled accessories for their top-tier flagship models. This innovation has become a key driver in boosting both Vivo and Oppo flagship sales.

Qualcomm's QCT business continued to drive the company's growth in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, fueled by rising demand for premium Android smartphones and expanding content per device. As the firm reduces its dependence on Apple, its Snapdragon platform and partnerships with Android OEMs have become key revenue engines.

Qualcomm ended fiscal 2025 with solid revenue growth but saw profits tumble due to a one-time US$5.7 billion non-cash tax charge linked to new US tax legislation. Despite the hit, the company projected up to US$12.6 billion in revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2026, signaling resilient chip demand.

Apple is reportedly integrating Google's Gemini extensively into its new Siri, while running all computations on Apple's private cloud compute (PCC) servers to ensure data privacy and security.

Just two weeks after its launch, the iPhone 17 has provided strong momentum for Apple's fiscal 2025 fourth quarter, and the trend is expected to continue into the fiscal 2026 first quarter. The iPhone 17 series may become one of the best-selling models in years, so Apple may be prompted to accelerate its supply chain to meet demand.

India's smartphone market grew 5% year-over-year in shipments and 18% in value in the third quarter of 2025, reaching its highest-ever quarterly value, according to Counterpoint Research. The growth was driven by festive-season sell-ins, aggressive promotions, and financing offers that boosted premium segment demand.

Despite ongoing challenges from tariffs, inflation, and geopolitical tensions impacting the 3C and consumer sectors, the smartphone industry showed unexpectedly resilient demand in the third quarter of 2025, driven by Apple and Android manufacturers. Shipment volumes surpassed expectations for the quarter.

CXMT has released its LPDDR5X products on its official website to coincide with rising global memory prices. Many major companies, such as Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron, are benefitting from the memory market boom; whether CXMT will capture a share of the market growth will depend on its capacity expansion and yield progress.

After hosting GTC DC to discuss quantum computing, 6G, and autonomous driving, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang flew to South Korea to attend the APEC CEO Summit and meet with leading Korean tech companies. However, Huang has unexpectedly found himself in the political spotlight after US President Donald Trump namedropped him on Truth Social.

Samsung Electronics' next-generation application processor, the Exynos 2600, appears poised to reclaim the spotlight in the high-end smartphone chip market, with early benchmark tests suggesting it outperforms Apple's A19 Pro and Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in multi-core performance.

Samsung Electronics saw strong results from its mobile division for the third quarter of 2025, driven by robust sales of its new foldable models, the Galaxy Z Fold7 and Flip7. The Mobile eXperience (MX) and Network (NW) business units reported operating profit growth of nearly 30% year-over-year.

Apple reported record fiscal fourth-quarter results, with revenue rising nearly 8% year over year to US$102.47 billion, driven by double-digit growth in services and solid demand for iPhones and Macs despite weakness in Greater China.

The foldable phone market is finally hitting its stride. After years of false starts and skeptical consumers, the segment is experiencing genuine momentum. Counterpoint Research projects US shipments will surge nearly 68% year-over-year in 2025, while China's annual volume is closing in on 10 million units—a threshold that signals the category has moved beyond experimental territory.

Samsung Electronics is reportedly preparing a limited release of its upcoming tri-fold smartphone in select markets, which include South Korea, China, and Taiwan. The US is expected to miss out on the initial release. Industry sources estimate that production will be limited to 50,000 units, with a possible price tag of up to US$3,000.

Samsung Electronics currently leads the foldable phone market and holds the largest share of foldable phone sales in the US, alongside Motorola and Google. However, Apple is expected to enter the competition by the end of 2026. With foldable hardware design, component durability, and supply chain maturity improving, Apple is expected to challenge Samsung in the US market and potentially compete with Huawei for the top shipment position in China.

As global memory prices surge rapidly, smartphone makers face increasing cost pressures that are driving retail price adjustments. Samsung Electronics' Device Solutions division anticipates improved semiconductor prospects, but its Mobile eXperience business confronts pricing challenges for upcoming devices amid rising DRAM and NAND Flash costs.

Chinese mobile electronics manufacturers are expanding their footprint in India amid signs of easing tensions between the two countries, industry executives told the Economic Times. Despite thinner profit margins compared with local players, firms such as DBG and BYD are ramping up production and rehiring staff to meet growing demand from Chinese smartphone brands, including Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo.

Xiaomi partner and president Weibing Lu is spearheading the company's push into the premium smartphone segment, marking the Xiaomi 17 series in 2025 as a critical battle for the price tier above CNY6,000 (US$842.51). This range has long been dominated by Apple's iPhone.

Samsung Electronics will reportedly equip its next-generation Galaxy flagship series with its own flagship mobile SoC platform, the Exynos 2600, resuming a shared chip supply with Qualcomm. This shift is largely due to Samsung's latest 2nm GAA process, which has finally demonstrated acceptable manufacturing results.

The AI wave shows no sign of slowing, and AI glasses have become the next frontier where technology meets wearables, following smartphones and wireless earbuds. As of late 2025, China's AI glasses market is heating up fast, with Alibaba and Baidu ready to debut their own models within six months, marking the start of true industrialisation and a coming shake-up from brands to the supply chain.

Samsung Electronics will begin mass production of its next-generation mobile application processor (AP), the Exynos 2600, in November 2025, according to several South Korean media outlets. Reports indicate the Exynos 2600 is highly likely to be used in the upcoming Galaxy S26 series smartphones. Notably, the neural processing unit (NPU) performance of the Exynos 2600 is reportedly more than six times faster than Apple's A19 Pro.