Global smartphone shipments grew by 1% in the first quarter of the year, according to a new Omdia report. However, due to rising supply-side costs the good news may not last. Vendor inventory frontloading temporarily supported shipments, the research firm said. “Memory and storage costs are increasing sharply, while vendors have not fully implemented retail price increases across all markets.”

Notable among the cost increases are mobile dynamic random access memory (DRAM)  and NAND (flash memory), which were up 90% in the first quarter compared to the same period in 2025. Those increases were only the start. Prices for those components are expected to go up another 30% in the second quarter.

Also adding to smartphone prices are logistics and trade flow disruption, which are negatively impacting global supply chains and shipments.

Samsung was the leading smartphone supplier in the first quarter of the year, achieving that position due to strong flagship demand and strong Galaxy S26 series pre-orders — up more than 10% globally compared with the Galaxy S25 series, according to the research firm.

Apple had strong first quarter smartphone shipments thanks to stable pricing and steady demand for the iPhone 17 series.

“Vendors have little choice but to raise prices as cost pressures intensify,” Sanyam Chaurasia, Omdia principal analyst said in a prepared statement about the smartphone shipments report.

“While price increases are happening across the industry, the impact is not uniform… Apple has largely held pricing, while Samsung is taking a more market-selective approach. Beyond headline price increases, vendors are also managing margins through configuration changes, reduced promotions, and tighter channel pricing. This is creating a more complex pricing environment, with financing and trade-ins playing a bigger role in supporting demand.”

Omdia expects the global smartphone market to be increasingly skewed to the downside in 2026, with shipments likely to decline by around 15% amid escalating costs and macro volatility.