GoKawiilA new Omdia report shows iPhone shipments jumped 31% year over year in Latin America during Q1 2026, driven by strong iPhone 17 performance and a whopping 80% jump in Mexico. Here are the details.
iPhone 17 demand and Mexico performance help drive Apple’s market share up
According to Omdia (via MacMagazine), Samsung led the Latin American smartphone market in Q1 2026, shipping 12.9 million units and taking 37% share, up 9% year over year.
Xiaomi followed in second place with 6 million units and 17% share, ahead of Motorola at 4.9 million units and 14% share. HONOR ranked fourth with 3.4 million units and 10% share, while Apple rounded out the top five with 1.8 million units and 5% share.
While Apple saw a modest 400-thousand shipment increase in absolute numbers, this represented a 31% jump in annual growth, the biggest from the bunch, closely followed by HONOR, with a 30% jump.
Overall, the market saw 34.8 million shipments, a modest 3% increase, as “shortage and increase in the cost of memory components caused a reduction in the offer and availability of affordable devices,” said Senior Analyst at Omdia, Miguel Ángel Pérez.
The report shows that the top five markets in the segment accounted for 73% of shipments in Q1 2026, with Brazil and Mexico being the only two markets where Apple made an appearance.
Apple ranked fifth in Brazil with a 5% share, while in Mexico the company climbed to third place with a 16% share, after “an exceptional performance in Mexico (+80% YoY) and robust reception of the iPhone 17 series,” Omdia said.
Looking ahead, Omdia says rising memory costs are expected to become more visible in retail prices from late Q2 onward, particularly below the $300 mark.
For Apple, that makes the higher-end resilience especially relevant, given that the iPhone largely competes above those more price-sensitive tiers.
... continue reading