India's smartphone market reached its weakest quarterly performance in recent years, with shipments declining 2 per cent (year-on-year) in Q1 2026. Poor performance is mainly driven by a sharp rise in DRAM and NAND flash prices, which pushed up device costs and forced brands to increase pricing, leading price-sensitive consumers to defer upgrades. 

According to the CMR ‘India Mobile Handset Market Review’ by CyberMedia Research (CMR), the impact was sharply uneven across segments, as per IANS.