This sounds plausible, but don't Samsung also sell tens of millions of units of their flagship galaxy range phones, in addition to their budget offering?

Perhaps the margin isn't quite as large as for Apple phones but the flagships are still not cheap by any means.

Historical data: https://counterpointresearch.com/en/insights/global-smartpho...

In general, it seems that Samsung beats Apple every single quarter other than Q4, which is when Apple releases their new phone.

The only notable data point is that Apple beat Samsung in Q1 2026. Otherwise, Samsung shipping more than Apple is completely expected.

I don’t think it says the opposite.

Apple claimed a record 20% of the market. Samsung overtook them with a 24% market share. These aren’t contradictory statements.

I suspect Apple’s percent of the profit share remains undefeated though.

Apple never cared about having the most marketshare outright. It focuses on gaining marketshare on customers with the higher likelihood to give them a profit.

I’m inclined to believe the Macrumors story because Apple did have a great cycle with the 17 and high memory prices affect brands with less pricing power more.

The reality is that you didn't really check whether the two articles are same. The one in the OP is citing Counterpoint Research. The one you linked to cites Omdia. They seem to be two different market research reports.

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See ya. Don’t let that door hit ya…. :) Technology is ongoing iteration without end, see what happens when you stop Kodak, Xerox, IBM, Intel, US Steel, Motorola of Schaumburg, Illinois.