Asymco Bulletin 014 - May 24, 2026
by Horace Dediu
Asymco Bulletin is a digest of all the work we have published for the week ending May 24, 2026.
Research
Apple was fastest growing Latin American smartphone vendor in Q1
The Latin American smartphone market grew 3% year over year in 1Q 2026 to 34.8 million units, supported by proactive inventory accumulation and the delayed pass‑through of rising memory costs. Samsung and Xiaomi strengthened their leading positions, while HONOR and Apple saw sharp growth supported by entry-level and premium demand, respectively. Samsung led the region, shipping 12.9 million units (+9% YoY) and lifting share to 37%, its highest quarterly level since 1Q 2023, supported by strong performance of A‑series models across low‑end and mid‑high segments. Xiaomi →
Nota Bene
Apple Vision Pro gains wheelchair control, on-device speech recognition and vehicle motion cues → Ahead of WWDC, Apple gave Vision Pro eye-controlled wheelchair steering, private on-device captioning, and in-vehicle motion cues. People keep claiming this product is deprecated, yet Apple keeps improving it. →
Indonesia Smartphone Shipments Fall 9% YoY in Q1 2026; Premium Segment Surges → Indonesia’s smartphone market fell 9% in the first quarter. Yet the premium tier above $600 hit a record 8.3% share and grew 30%, while the entry level below $150 collapsed 19%. Apple drove most of that surge, and the same split is appearing in Latin America and China. →
The App Store Annual Fraud Prevention Analysis → Apple blocked over $2.2 billion in fraudulent App Store transactions in 2025, part of $11.2 billion across six years. The timing, right before WWDC, is a message to the eurocrats. The alternative stores publish nothing like this, and the EU stops at market access rather than user protection. →
iPhones sales in China grew 3% year-over-year over the May Day holiday → China’s smartphone market fell 16% over the five-day May Day holiday as higher memory prices dampened upgrades. The iPhone still grew 3%, and against a wave of fresh competitor launches. Apple guided to the same growth in June that it delivered in March. →
Asymetric
Asymetric Episode 137 — E is Our Friend → On the podcast I ask whether a crash is coming. Remember that E is our friend: earnings are an opinion, cash flow is a fact, and a share price is a dream. The Mag 7 pour half a trillion into data centers yet still trade like software companies. →
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