中国手机受存储涨价与销量下滑冲击，三星或获高端机竞争窗口

China's smartphone industry appears to be taking a bigger-than-expected hit from "chipflation" driven by soaring memory prices, raising questions about whether the damage will amount to a temporary loss of market share. The world's largest domestic market, which has sustained Chinese smartphone sales, and the component ecosystem, which has propped up price competitiveness with low costs, have both suffered a chain reaction of damage. With securing memory supply on their own also proving difficult, analysts say the industry's deteriorating performance could become prolonged. As Chinese companies seek an exit by shifting toward premium (high-end) smartphones, global No. 1 Samsung Electronics is pouring efforts into defending its position through technological innovation and expanded marketing.
According to IDC on the 15th, smartphone shipments in China in the second quarter this year totaled 66 million units, down 4.3% from the same period last year. China's smartphone shipments have declined for five consecutive quarters. In particular, smartphone sales during the "618 Shopping Festival," China's largest first-half online shopping event held each June, fell 13% from a year earlier.
This was due to a sharp contraction in consumer sentiment as Chinese companies raised finished-product prices amid the surge in memory prices. With cost burdens growing, companies were unable to offer their usual aggressive discounts even during the 618 event. Reduced government subsidies also compounded the situation. An industry official said, "The Chinese government has poured massive subsidies into supporting companies, but as a crisis hit the industry, restructuring became necessary," adding, "As a result, subsidies are being cut and the burden on Chinese companies is increasing."
Chinese smartphone makers have pushed a "value-for-money" (performance relative to price) strategy, mainly releasing low- and mid-priced products for the domestic market or selling even overseas models at cheaper prices, but chipflation has made it harder to meet the expectations of domestic consumers.
The component ecosystem that has propped up Chinese smartphones' value-for-money strategy is also taking a domino-effect blow. Chinese smartphone makers have maintained profitability even at low consumer prices by sourcing cheap domestic components. But as smartphone manufacturers' earnings declined, component makers' earnings also plunged, shaking the supply chain. Major companies including Xiaomi recently notified their component suppliers that they would lower this year's shipment targets by up to 30%.
Tianma, a mobile OLED (organic light-emitting diode) maker, swung to a loss in the first half with a net loss reaching 750 million yuan (about 160 billion won), and Visionox is expected to post a net loss of up to 1.97 billion yuan (about 430 billion won). An industry official said, "Apart from BOE, most rely on domestic supply, so it is hard to find an immediate way out through overseas exports."
Amid observations that the Chinese smartphone industry's slump could become prolonged as the domestic and supply-chain crises overlap, even the memory supply that is the direct solution is not easy to secure. Although memory supply is being expanded centered on Changxin Memory Technology (CXMT), the rapidly growing artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure is absorbing demand first. The share of mobile low-power DRAM (LPDDR) in CXMT's revenue fell from 82.7% in 2024 to 66.3% last year. CXMT has recently expanded its high-bandwidth memory (HBM) business for AI and, following Tencent, is pursuing supply to Huawei as well.
In response, Chinese companies are seeking to transform themselves into premium phone makers following Samsung Electronics. Honor, a Huawei subsidiary, has agreed to cooperate with Alibaba, developer of the global AI model "Qwen," to develop an "Agentic OS," a next-generation operating system for AI devices. The two companies plan to announce their cooperation at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC), China's largest AI event, which opens in Shanghai on the 17th. Oppo is reportedly set to soon withdraw its low- and mid-priced brand OnePlus from the North American and European markets and focus on selling premium phones.
Samsung Electronics is now in a position where it must maintain its leadership in the premium phone market as much as possible to maximize the windfall from Chinese companies' struggles. Following the "Galaxy S26" earlier this year, Samsung Electronics plans to hold "Galaxy Unpacked 2026" in London, the U.K., on the 22nd (local time), unveiling its new foldable phone "Galaxy Z8" series to cement its technological edge.
In particular, "Flex Titanium" will be applied for the first time in the displays of the "Galaxy Z Fold8" and "Galaxy Z Wide Fold (tentative name)." The technology places a titanium alloy film instead of plastic beneath the OLED panel, increasing rigidity 20-fold and improving screen creases.
Samsung Electronics is also pursuing form-factor (device shape) innovation with the launch of the Z Wide Fold, which enhances multitasking efficiency and content immersion with a wide 4:3-ratio screen when unfolded. The three new products will also be the first to feature "Gemini Intelligence," a new function developed in cooperation with Google in which an AI agent independently moves between multiple applications to perform multitasking. Unlike the "Galaxy Z Flip7," which was fully equipped with the "Exynos 2500," a self-developed application processor (AP) chip last year, the Z Flip8 will apply Qualcomm's higher-performance "Snapdragon 8 Elite 5th Generation" in some regions.
Samsung Electronics has also begun expanding its marketing a week ahead of Galaxy Unpacked. In particular, with the new product priced to exceed 3 million won for the Z Fold8, the company appears to be seeking to minimize the consumer burden by expanding trade-in benefits. In Canada, Samsung Electronics has offered a trade-in benefit that discounts the purchase price of new products by up to 1,500 Canadian dollars (about 1.59 million won) when returning an older Galaxy device. It has promised similar terms in Germany and elsewhere. In India, where the proportion of low- and mid-priced phone users prone to heavy depreciation is large, it has established a new "highest trade-in value guarantee" rule. This means it will evaluate and compensate for used-phone prices, which plunge after Galaxy Unpacked, at their previous highest value.