The latest data from market research firm Counterpoint shows that in the first quarter of 2026, overall smartphone sales in the United States fell 5.7% year-on-year. However, Apple bucked the trend and grew during this period, continuing to expand its share of the U.S. market with strong demand for the iPhone 17 series. During the same period, Android smartphone sales dropped sharply by 14.4% year-on-year, and the platform landscape further tilted towards Apple.
The report pointed out that U.S. iPhone sales increased by 1.3% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, which was particularly prominent against the backdrop of overall market contraction. Among the three major operators AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, Apple has achieved share gains, with Verizon performing the most eye-catchingly. Apple’s share of its smartphone sales has reached 77%.
Part of this growth continues the effect of supply constraints from the 2025 holiday shopping season: due to tight supply in the previous quarter, some demand was delayed until early 2026, lengthening the sales cycle of the entire iPhone product line. Counterpoint also specifically mentioned that the market performance of the basic iPhone 17 in the first quarter of 2026 was better than expected, becoming one of the key models to drive sales.
From the perspective of platform distribution, the US smartphone market is further tilted towards iOS: in the first quarter of 2025, Apple accounted for 72% of sales and Android 28%; by the first quarter of 2026, the two became 75% and 25%. This means that while the overall market is shrinking, Apple has locked in more high-value users with a higher share.
Samsung, by delaying the release of the Galaxy S26 to mid-March, missed part of the replacement window early in the quarter and made more room for Apple in the high-end market. At present, the high-end smartphone market in the United States is still highly concentrated among a few brands such as Apple, Samsung, Google, and Motorola. The release time of flagship models has a significant impact on the sales pace.
Counterpoint believes that operator channels are still a major source of advantage for Apple in the US market. In the first quarter of 2026, Apple's share of Verizon increased significantly to 77%, showing that it has formed a strong cooperation model with operators in terms of contract machines, installments, and package bundling.
In terms of price and product strategy, Apple has consolidated its competitiveness through relatively stable pricing. Taking the iPhone 17e as an example, Apple has increased the entry storage capacity to 256GB while keeping the price relatively stable. Against the backdrop of generally rising memory and storage costs, other brands have been forced to raise prices to maintain profit margins. At the same time, operator subsidies, installment financial plans, and the stickiness surrounding the iOS ecosystem are working together with pure hardware parameters to shape users’ final purchase decisions.
Among models priced above $600 and sold through U.S. postpaid channels, Apple has further strengthened its promotion and exposure position, outperforming Samsung overall and taking an advantage in Counterpoint's smartphone promotion index. Although this strategy may compress hardware profit margins on certain segmented models, it is conducive to maintaining the scale of iOS users in the long term, thereby promoting the continued growth of subscription and service businesses. Counterpoint pointed out that as component costs continue to rise, it will be difficult for small and medium-sized Android brands to compete with Apple in terms of price stability, operator support and marketing scale.
In contrast to the structural solidity of the high-end market, the U.S. prepaid and lower-priced smartphone markets continued to weaken in the first quarter of 2026. Higher oil prices and debt repayment pressures have partially offset the extra cash brought in by the tax refund season, making low-income users' budgets for phone purchases and replacements even tighter. The decline in sales is particularly pronounced in the price segment below US$100, where rising memory costs and squeezed profit margins have put tremendous pressure on small and medium-sized brands.
In this market tier, Samsung and Motorola have further increased their share through prepaid channels such as Cricket and Metro. On the contrary, brands such as TCL, HMD, Maxwest, Orbic and Blu have experienced share losses, extended product update cycles and insufficient marketing investment, showing the trend of "the weak will always be weak". Counterpoint believes that the U.S. smartphone market is accelerating towards concentration: the high-end market is firmly dominated by Apple, while in the low-price and prepaid fields, Samsung and Motorola are gradually absorbing the space vacated by small and medium-sized brands.