Qualcomm Q4 revenue falls 8% as Samsung chip share target tops 70%

Qualcomm reported fiscal 2026 fourth-quarter GAAP revenue of $10.322 billion and operating income of $1.356 billion on November 4, 2026, down 8% and 54% year over year respectively, according to techm.kr. The chipmaker also said its target share of Samsung Electronics' next-generation Galaxy products now exceeds 70%.

Qualcomm's chip segment QCT posted revenue of $8.893 billion, down 8% year over year, while licensing arm QTL brought in $1.429 billion, down 10%. Within QCT, handset revenue fell 26% to $5.137 billion, while automotive revenue rose 89% to $1.99 billion and IoT revenue edged up 4% to $1.888 billion.

CEO Cristiano Amon said the 70% Galaxy target is up from a prior 50% benchmark, and that Qualcomm has begun supplying SoCs for Samsung's premium Galaxy products including wearables. Qualcomm also split its top Snapdragon 8 series into Snapdragon 8 and Snapdragon 8 Extreme, and Amon said the Dragonwing robot product has entered commercialization.

Data center push

Qualcomm said data center revenue is expected to exceed $650 million in the fiscal 2027 first quarter, covering October to December 2026, and that its data center agreements with Meta and Amazon have been concluded. The company also said it will build a US 5G terrestrial network with SpaceX and has succeeded in supplying base stations.

For the fiscal 2027 first quarter, Qualcomm guided revenue to $10.4-11.2 billion, with QCT at $9.0-9.6 billion and QTL at $1.3-1.5 billion. Amon forecast fiscal 2027 data center revenue of $5 billion and said non-handset revenue would reach $40 billion in fiscal 2029, with data center at over $15 billion. CFO Akash Palkhiwala said the full effect of product price increases will appear in the second half of fiscal 2027, and that data center results were included starting this quarter.

Earlier, in October 2025, Qualcomm renewed QTL licenses with Apple, Huawei and Transsion, extending the contracts through fiscal 2030. Market research firm Omdia estimated the global smartphone market fell 20% year over year in the third quarter of 2026 and forecast continued weakness through the following year.