of apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) The share price has been somewhat volatile but essentially stable (down 0.6%) so far in 2026.
The ongoing crisis in the Middle East has led to widespread negativity regarding tech stocks, resulting in weak returns for tech giants.
However, there was some good news for shareholders from market research firm Counterpoint Research. Apple emerges as the top player in the global smartphone market in the first quarter of 2026. But what’s impressive is that it is the only one among the top five smartphone makers to register growth during the quarter.
Let’s examine the significance of Apple’s Q1 sales results.
Counterpoint says total smartphone sales declined 6% year over year in Q1. Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo’s shipments all declined compared to the year-ago period. However, Apple managed to increase its shipments by 5%. The Magnificent Seven: The company ended calendar Q1 with a 21% market share and became the top smartphone vendor during the quarter.
Counterpoint attributes this strong performance to a strong demand for iPhones in India, China, and Japan. The firm also says Apple’s aggressive trade-in programs are driving resilient sales growth, even in an adverse macroeconomic environment.
Clearly, the Apple brand is resonating with customers, even if critics say it is lagging behind rivals in the race for generative-AI smartphones. But according to reports, the company is collaborating with Alphabet and Google to add more AI features to its devices. Apple could use Google’s Gemini AI model to create smaller AI models that would run locally on its devices, technology news site The Information reports.
Such features could make Apple’s iPhones and other devices more attractive to users, allowing iPhone sales to remain strong. Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities says that when the iPhone 17 series was launched last year, about 315 million iPhones were at least four years old. The large number of iPhones in the upgrade window should lead to strong replacement demand and help Apple outperform the broader smartphone market.
It is worth noting that the global smartphone market has been disrupted by the high prices of memory chips, but Apple has been quick to ensure supply in order to maintain market share.
