TrendForce: Apple produced about 52 million iPhones in Q2 as the market shrank

A new TrendForce production report, covered by 9to5Mac and summarized by Semiconductor Today, says Apple produced about 52 million iPhones in Q2 2026 — up roughly 14% year over year — even as global smartphone production fell 8% to 275 million units.

Where Apple landed

According to TrendForce’s ranking for the quarter:

• Samsung led with about 62 million units produced (+7% year over year) and about 23% share.
• Apple ranked second at about 52 million units (+14%) and about 19% share.
• OPPO, Xiaomi, and vivo followed at about 30 million, 29 million, and 21 million units respectively.

TrendForce credits Apple’s gain mainly to the iPhone 17 lineup’s pricing strategy, which it says supported strong sales through the first three quarters of the cycle. The firm also flags that price increases for the upcoming iPhone 18 series appear inevitable, and that the sales impact of those hikes will be a key watch item — a theme already echoed in our coverage of KeyBanc’s event-week share warning and iPhone 18 Pro pre-order timing.

Why the market “looked better”

TrendForce raised its full-year 2026 global smartphone production forecast from 1.05 billion to 1.07 billion units, narrowing the expected year-over-year decline from 16% to 14%. It attributes the upward revision to two temporary effects — some buyers pulling purchases forward amid memory-price anxiety, and some brands restoring volumes after cutting production plans too aggressively — not a fundamental demand recovery.

Caveats

These are production estimates from TrendForce, not Apple-confirmed shipment results, and they differ from earlier Q2 shipment-share snapshots from other firms. Treat the unit and growth figures as research-firm estimates reported by secondary coverage, not Apple announcements.

Sources: 9to5Mac, Semiconductor Today / TrendForce.