9to5Mac reported on October 6, 2026 that Apple overtook Samsung in Europe's carrier smartphone sales during the second quarter of 2026, citing Counterpoint Research. Counterpoint's public article header independently says Apple took the lead in Q2, but the full report figures were not accessible in our source reads. The numbers below are therefore attributed to 9to5Mac's account of the report.
According to that account, Apple's share of sales through European operators rose from 33 percent in Q2 2025 to 37 percent in Q2 2026. Samsung's share fell from 39 percent to 34 percent. These are shares of the carrier channel, not the whole European smartphone market, installed base or worldwide shipments.
9to5Mac says Counterpoint estimates that operator-channel sales fell 4 percent year over year, compared with an 11 percent decline in the open market and an 8 percent decline in the overall European market. A rise in channel share is not necessarily an increase in the number of phones sold.
The report attributes the difference partly to memory-price pressure on lower-cost phones, while operator sales are more weighted toward premium devices sold on contracts. This is the research firm's interpretation, not proof that one cause explains every buyer's choice.
Counterpoint's expectation that the operator channel will gain more share is a forecast. It does not establish what will happen next quarter or which phone offers the best value for a consumer. This brief preserves the channel and period limits instead of treating a carrier-channel lead as a market-wide ranking.