What you must know
- Qualcomm introduced its FY Q2 2026 monetary earnings on April 29.
- The corporate posted income of $10.6 billion, down 3% from a FY Q2 2025.
- This comes simply days after reviews of Qualcomm partnering with OpenAI on smartphone processors.
Qualcomm posted its most up-to-date monetary earnings on Wednesday, April 29, reporting $10.6 billion in income for fiscal 12 months Q2 2026. This represents a 3% lower in income when in comparison with fiscal 12 months Q2 2025, when the corporate posted $10.98 billion in income. This aligns with expectations however means that Qualcomm is starting to really feel the results of the RAM scarcity that has plagued the business in latest months.
“We’re happy to ship outcomes in step with our steerage, reflecting strong execution as we navigate a difficult reminiscence setting,” says Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon in a press release, noting how we’re “in a interval of profound business transformation” as a result of rise of AI brokers.
Amon additionally touches on Qualcomm’s new enterprise into AI chips for information facilities, that are anticipated to reach later this 12 months and in 2027, though extra particulars can be offered throughout Qualcomm’s Investor Day in June.
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(Picture credit score: Derrek Lee / Android Central)
Throughout the quarter, a number of flagship smartphones hit the market, together with the Samsung Galaxy S26 sequence, for which Qualcomm holds greater than a 70% market share with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. Nonetheless, regardless of seeing some spectacular smartphones, Qualcomm’s QCT division noticed a 13% year-over-year income decline, whereas Automotive and IoT elevated by 38% and 9%, respectively.
Additional underscoring the strain that reminiscence shortages are having on the business is Qualcomm’s FY Q3 steerage, which falls within the vary of $9.2B – $10.0B; decrease than analyst expectations.
That is the results of decrease channel stock from OEMs, notably in China, one thing Qualcomm anticipated as famous by Qualcomm CFO Akash Palkhiwala.
“These dynamics performed out as anticipated within the second fiscal quarter and are additionally mirrored in our third quarter steerage. Consequently, in each quarters, our China QCT Android shipments are meaningfully beneath the size of end-consumer handset demand.”
Nonetheless, he notes that there’s a bit of sunshine on the horizon, as income ought to return to progress in This autumn after bottoming out in Q3.
(Picture credit score: Apoorva Bhardwaj / Android Central)
However as for predictions about whether or not the reminiscence scarcity may finish subsequent 12 months, Amon says it is “a bit of early to speak about ’27,” noting that a number of elements are at play and dealing to deal with the scarcity, comparable to new reminiscence gamers constructing capability.
“So we will have to watch the state of affairs in and see what occurs in ’27.”
Android Central’s take
It is fascinating that the very factor firms are relying on to assist drive extra smartphone gross sales is similar factor that’s inflicting costs of those self same smartphones to extend. We have already seen it with the Galaxy S26 sequence, and now even Motorola has raised costs throughout its lineup, with the Razr 2026 sequence seeing a number of the most dramatic value elevated. Motorola has even opted to make use of the identical chipset as final 12 months’s mannequin within the Razr Extremely 2026, and whereas it did not particularly say that reminiscence costs had been an element, it is clear that it performed a job within the choice.
Amon says 2027 is just too early to foretell if the reminiscence scarcity will finish, however I am undecided shoppers can endure this for for much longer, particularly with world politics already affecting many items.
