A woman uses her smartphone inside the Apple store in Beijing's Sanlitun area as the iPhone 17 series smartphones go on sale in Beijing, China September 19, 2025.
This year, however, many are holding back, instead leaning toward last-generation flagships like the iPhone 17 and the Galaxy S26 series.
In the first quarter, Apple took the top spot with a 21 percent share, followed by Samsung's 20 percent.
A person holds Apple's iPhone 17 series at an Apple Store in Taipei, Taiwan, September 19, 2025.
The momentum of the iPhone 17 is flowing directly to LG Innotek's bottom line.
A woman uses her smartphone inside the Apple store in Beijing's Sanlitun area as the iPhone 17 series smartphones go on sale in Beijing, China September 19, 2025. REUTERS/YONHAP
Price hikes for new devices with few real upgrades could scare consumers away as the chip shortage threatens to upend market givens.
With a new iPhone release set for September and Galaxy's foldable launching next week, July is traditionally a busy month for smartphone shoppers sizing up their next upgrade. This year, however, many are holding back, instead leaning toward last-generation flagships like the iPhone 17 and the Galaxy S26 series.
Samsung and Apple will likely bump up prices for their upcoming models as they feel the squeeze of soaring memory chip prices. The expected hikes — up to $300, according to tipsters — make the previous models look like a great bargain as the new phones will likely come with few upgrades.
Higher prices were confirmed last month by Apple CEO Tim Cook, who commented that hikes are "unavoidable."
The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, expected to succeed the Z Fold 7, is drawing criticism as little more than a spec-bumped Fold 7 without enough of an upgrade to justify the Ultra branding, while the price bump is expected to be as much as $280 for the 1TB model. Reports suggest the actual product's display crease will be nearly identical to the Fold 7's — a letdown given that Samsung had raised expectations with crease-free foldable display prototypes showcased earlier this year. The new, wider variant is expected to start at $1,899.
For Apple, the standard iPhone 18 has been pushed to next spring, while the Pro lineup is rumored to carry a $1,399 price tag, a jump of up to $300 from its predecessor despite modest upgrades. For the first time, Apple is delaying the release of its base models, leaving consumers with no choice but to buy the pricier Pro variants if they want a new iPhone this fall.
Meanwhile, sales for prior generation models continue to hold steady. This month, Samsung asked suppliers to raise Galaxy S26 production by 50 percent from original targets, to 1.5 million units — a signal that demand is being pulled along ahead of expectations that the Galaxy S27 will come with a steeper price tag due to prolonged component shortages.
The Galaxy S26 series is credited with helping Samsung take back the top global smartphone spot this year, capturing 24 percent market share in the second quarter — up 4 percentage points from the same period a year earlier — beating Apple's 20 percent, according to market researcher Counterpoint Research. In the first quarter, Apple took the top spot with a 21 percent share, followed by Samsung's 20 percent.
The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is held up during a special event at the Mobile World Congress (MWC26) trade show, in Barcelona, Spain, March 2, 2026. REUTERS/YONHAP
Apple's 20 percent share was largely attributed to the iPhone 17 series, which continued to enjoy strong popularity and maintained its position as the most-shipped global model, the research firm said.
"The global memory crisis has now overtaken every other factor as the single biggest drag on the smartphone industry," said Counterpoint Research analyst Shilpi Jain. "What started as a components issue last year is now a full-blown demand issue. The entry and mid-tier devices, which account for a majority of the world’s smartphone volumes and are the most exposed to Bill of Materials [ the total manufacturing cost of a device] economics, become structurally unfeasible at previous price points."
However, signs of softening demand are already showing. Global smartphone shipments for the quarter recorded an 11 percent on-year slide, the steepest second quarter decline since 2013.
The question is whether price hikes and a delayed base model launch will upend the traditional pattern where strong demand for new phones drives a profitability surge for smartphone vendors. If consumers are disappointed, that pattern may break — and sales of predecessor models may end up outpacing the newer ones.
Early signs of that trend are already surfacing in Korea. LG Innotek, Apple's main camera module supplier, said in September of last year that it plans to double production capacity at its Vietnam factory, citing the iPhone 17 series' continued popularity driven largely by meaningful camera upgrades.
A person holds Apple's iPhone 17 series at an Apple Store in Taipei, Taiwan, September 19, 2025. REUTERS/YONHAP
Apple accounts for roughly 80 percent of LG Innotek's total revenue, the highest dependency ratio of any Korean supplier in Apple's supply chain.
The momentum of the iPhone 17 is flowing directly to LG Innotek's bottom line. Daishin Securities analyst Park Kang-ho projects the company's second quarter operating profit to surge 1,599 percent on year, beating market consensus by 30.2 percent, driven by the camera module division's strong performance.
"Within optical solutions, a rising share of premium Apple model production is maximizing the mix effect," Park noted. "Strong iPhone 17 sales are also expected to contribute to stable utilization rates."
BY LEE JAE-LIM [[email protected]]
