Smartphone shipments in Middle East and Africa (MEA) declined 10% YoY in Q2 2026, a quarter with no sales-driving occasion to support demand.
The contraction was not evenly distributed among brands, however: several brands saw their shares decline steeply, while Samsung, realme and Apple grew significantly.
In a market falling this fast, there was no additional demand to capture, so every unit Samsung gained came out of Infinix, TECNO and Xiaomi’s shares, according to Counterpoint Research.
MEA Smartphone Shipment Share by OEM, Q2 2025 vs Q2 2026
Source: Counterpoint Research’s Market Monitor Service
Note: Values may not add to 100% due to rounding
5G shipments to the MEA region grew 8% YoY in Q2 2026, while global 5G shipments rose only 1% YoY. The divergence reflects both a low regional base in Q2 2025 and the rapid buildout of 5G networks and supporting policy across the region. Apple and Samsung together were the primary drivers of the region’s 5G growth.
The region’s overall smartphone market performance was weighed down by the sub-$250 segment, which fell 26% YoY, the steepest decline of any band, as the ongoing memory crisis pushed OEMs to ration constrained supply toward higher-margin models.
Counterpoint Research analyst Ahmad Shehab comments: “Q2 2026 already projected to be the weakest quarter of the year, largely because of the memory crisis, as well as the shift in the Islamic calendar against the Gregorian calendar which concentrated all H1 occasions into Q1.
“The memory crisis hit the market hard, though unevenly,” he adds. “Transsion and Xiaomi were hit hardest, steeply impacting their market shares, because their volume is concentrated in exactly the entry-tier segment, which is the most exposed to the memory price crunch.”
That displacement created an opening. Samsung captured much of the underserved demand, expanding notably at the expense of other OEMs. The brand’s A07 and A17 models performed well, alongside the recently launched S26 flagship lineup.
Similarly, the MEA market was an expansion opportunity for realme during the quarter, despite its global smartphone shipments falling 23% YoY in Q2 2026. The brand aimed to serve the untapped demand in the MEA market by allocating significantly more units here, at the expense of other markets like India and China. This highlights realme’s strategic view of the budget-focused MEA market, where it aims to expand and maintain a larger share.
MEA is a market built on entry-level volume and is being pushed up by the price curve. This is not due to rising consumer demand, but by component scarcity, making the 8% 5G figure partly a symptom of that squeeze.