Qualcomm reported a solid Q2 but guided Q3 sharply lower due to memory-driven inventory destocking by Chinese handset OEMs. Management emphasized a bottom in China Android in Q3 and highlighted accelerating diversification in automotive (50% YoY growth next quarter) and IoT. On AI, they painted a bullish picture of agentic workloads driving a device upgrade cycle, with strong performance claims against Intel in PCs and a new custom silicon engagement with a leading hyperscaler starting shipments this calendar year. Q2 revenue $10.6B, EPS $2.65 (high end of guide); Q3 guidance revenue $9.2-10B, EPS $2.10-2.30.
Qualcomm reported a solid Q2 but guided Q3 sharply lower due to memory-driven inventory destocking by Chinese handset OEMs. Management emphasized a bottom in China Android in Q3 and highlighted accelerating diversification in automotive (50% YoY growth next quarter) and IoT. On AI, they painted a bullish picture of agentic workloads driving a device upgrade cycle, with strong performance claims against Intel in PCs and a new custom silicon engagement with a leading hyperscaler starting shipments this calendar year. Q2 revenue $10.6B, EPS $2.65 (high end of guide); Q3 guidance revenue $9.2-10B, EPS $2.10-2.30.
Management discussed agentic AI workloads, such as OpenClaw, as fundamentally changing user experiences across edge devices and reshaping their roadmap, with Qualcomm's CPU, NPU, and connectivity being key assets for delivering on-device AI and driving an upgrade cycle.
Management expressed strong confidence driven by agentic AI opportunities, record automotive revenues, data center traction, and clear visibility into a China handset bottom, with no notable shift in tone from prior calls.
China QCT handset revenues bottom in Q3. Management expressed strong confidence driven by agentic AI opportunities, record automotive revenues, data center traction, and clear visibility into a China handset bottom, with no notable shift in tone from prior calls.
Management discussed agentic AI workloads, such as OpenClaw, as fundamentally changing user experiences across edge devices and reshaping their roadmap, with Qualcomm's CPU, NPU, and connectivity being key assets for delivering on-device AI and driving an upgrade cycle.
Management discussed agentic AI workloads, such as OpenClaw, as fundamentally changing user experiences across edge devices and reshaping their roadmap, with Qualcomm's CPU, NPU, and connectivity being key assets for delivering on-device AI and driving an upgrade cycle.
China QCT handset revenues bottom in Q3. Management expressed strong confidence driven by agentic AI opportunities, record automotive revenues, data center traction, and clear visibility into a China handset bottom, with no notable shift in tone from prior calls.
Management expressed strong confidence driven by agentic AI opportunities, record automotive revenues, data center traction, and clear visibility into a China handset bottom, with no notable shift in tone from prior calls.
“The increasing demand for memory in AI data centers was driving uncertainty in memory supply and price increases to handset OEMs. And as a result, the handset OEMs, particularly in China, were taking a cautious approach by reducing build p…”
“Snapdragon X2 delivers the full agent experience end-to-end and outperforms Intel's Pinter Lake by nearly 30%.”
| Metric | Period | Range | Midpoint | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EPS | FY2026 Q3 | $2.10–$2.30 | $2.20 | GUIDED |
| Op marginQCT | FY2026 Q3 | 25%–27% | 26% | GUIDED |
| Op marginQTL | FY2026 Q3 | 67%–71% | 69% | GUIDED |
| Revenue | FY2026 Q3 | $9.2B–$10B | $9.6B | GUIDED |
| RevenueHANDSET | FY2026 Q3 | $4.9B | $4.9B | GUIDED |
| RevenueQTL | FY2026 Q3 | $1.15B–$1.35B | $1.25B | GUIDED |
| Issued | Metric | Target | Guide | Actual | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2026 Q1 | EPS | FY2026 Q2 | $2.45–$2.65 | $2.65 | Met / beat |
| FY2026 Q1 | Revenue | FY2026 Q2 | $10.2B–$11B | $10.599B | Met / beat |
Qualcomm's relationship with Samsung is stable at >70% Snapdragon share, and the agentic AI trend may create upward bias.
“greater than 70% share, which is exactly what we have said. You should expect that that is the framework of this year, and that is also the framework for next year.”
I look forward to talking about that more at the Investor Day. Maybe for my follow-up, just going back to the handset business, can you just remind us of the multi-year agreement framework that you have with your primary premium smartphone customer, Samsung? you did have some sort of changes in the market, in the share with them this year. I think there are some more indications of a further step down in share and more use of the in-house SOC sort of next year. Can you just remind us sort of how you're thinking about that engagement long-term and what does the multi-year agreement sort of capture at this point?
No, absolutely. I love answering this question. So this is a A very, very stable, I think, relationship with Qualcomm. I want to remind you all that we have reset the framework of this relationship. Historically, we always had a business with Samsung that was in the 50% share between us and their own in-house silicon. That has changed to greater than 70%, as you know, and that has been the framework. And sometimes we get more than that, but we plan our business differently. in greater than 70% share, which is exactly what we have said. You should expect that that is the framework of this year, and that is also the framework for next year. I would say that that's probably one of the most stable relationships that we have, and we have visibility of what that entails. And we feel good about the position on Snapdragon. And I'll argue, I think given what's happened with agents, we have an opportunity to actually have a positive bias on that share.
Xiaomi is developing agentic AI frameworks on Snapdragon, supporting Qualcomm's thesis of an AI-driven smartphone upgrade cycle.
“Xiaomi's recent announcement of a Mi Claw agent framework and other agentic systems now in development across the Android ecosystem”
… Sell-through held up and our chip business materially undershipped consumer demand. We believe our China Android revenue is bottoming out in fiscal Q3 and Akash will provide more specifics in his financial update. Second, We think agentic smartphones will soon begin to influence the premium tier, and we expect this team will only get stronger into fiscal 27. With examples like the bi-dense Daobao-powered agentic AI phone from ZTE Nubia, Xiaomi's recent announcement of a Mi Claw agent framework and other agentic systems now in development across the Android ecosystem, We have a clear line of sight into how the AI upgrade cycle will unfold, and this is going to be an important tailwind for premium demand over time. Next, I want to highlight a major strategic initiative and long-term growth driver for Qualcomm, 6G, the next generation of wireless. Designed for the age of AI, we believe 6G will present one of the most significant transitions for the wireless industry. From a connectivity perspective, 6G will enable new classes of mobile and personal devices, such as smart glasses, with enhanced uplink capabilities to support agentic use cases like see what I see. Beyond …
ZTE Nubia has launched an agentic AI phone using Qualcomm silicon, an early example of the AI-driven premium smartphone trend.
“the bi-dense Daobao-powered agentic AI phone from ZTE Nubia”
… I would like to underscore two key points. First, the quarter played out as we expected. Sell-through held up and our chip business materially undershipped consumer demand. We believe our China Android revenue is bottoming out in fiscal Q3 and Akash will provide more specifics in his financial update. Second, We think agentic smartphones will soon begin to influence the premium tier, and we expect this team will only get stronger into fiscal 27. With examples like the bi-dense Daobao-powered agentic AI phone from ZTE Nubia, Xiaomi's recent announcement of a Mi Claw agent framework and other agentic systems now in development across the Android ecosystem, We have a clear line of sight into how the AI upgrade cycle will unfold, and this is going to be an important tailwind for premium demand over time. Next, I want to highlight a major strategic initiative and long-term growth driver for Qualcomm, 6G, the next generation of wireless. Designed for the age of AI, we believe 6G will present one of the most significant transitions for the wireless industry. From a connectivity perspective, 6G will enable new classes of mobile and personal devices, such as smart glasses, with …
Qualcomm's ADAS/autonomous driving solution is performing well with BMW, a key reference for winning other automakers.
“We're pleased with the performance of our automated driving stack with BMW”
… fifth-generation Snapdragon digital chassis platform. This represents the largest generation-to-generation content increase in Qualcomm's history, delivering three times higher CPU throughput, a three-fold increase in GPU capability, and 12 times higher NPU performance while supporting in-vehicle agents and processing for level 3 and level 4 autonomous driving. Looking ahead to fiscal 27, we expect continued share gains and increased content particularly in ADATs. We're pleased with the performance of our automated driving stack with BMW, and we're seeing broad customer engagement from other leading automakers. Our recent announcements with Bosch and Wave are good examples of what's to come as we build on our proven platforms and self-driving stack in-scale ADATs. In IoT, agentic workloads and edge AI are driving major product renewal design cycles. Overall, our pipeline is healthy and there is clear momentum for Qualcomm solutions. In personal AI, we expect a significant increase in the choice of new smart glasses starting in the second half of the year. We believe this launches, combined with a rapid progress in agentic AI, will catalyze an inflection point in customer demand …
Qualcomm maintains its assumption of 20% share in Apple's upcoming iPhone launch, with no product relationship beyond that year; Apple modem replacement is proceeding as expected.
“We've said 20% share of the phones that will launch in fall this year.”
Thanks a lot. And then I guess just as a follow-up, Is the assumption still the same that like around your share at Apple? I know there are some signs that there's going to be a little more aggressive displacement. Is the assumption still that it's going to be 20% for the new launch? Thanks.
Yeah, no change, Tim, to our assumption there. We've said 20% share of the phones that will launch in fall this year. and no product relationship beyond that. And this assumption has been consistent for the last couple years. In terms of Apple product revenue for fiscal 27, we've seen sell-side models in the range of a little over $2 billion in terms of QCT product revenue in the year, and we think that's a reasonable place to model the business.
Qualcomm acknowledges NVIDIA's move into the custom/influencing market but positions its own CPU and accelerator as differentiated for agentic inference.
Hi. Thank you. Thanks for taking my questions. Christian, maybe just going back to the data center opportunity and just trying to think about if you can sort of help us think about the competitive landscape here. I mean, you've had, which is the IP provider now announced they want to vertically integrate and make chips. You had NVIDIA announced that they are going to focus on the influencing market as well. How are you thinking about the comparative dynamics where they are related to maybe three months ago or six months ago that you're now sort of going and trying to deliver these wins on? And I have a quick follow-up after that.
Memory industry supply constraints and price increases for AI data centers are causing handset OEMs (especially in China) to reduce builds and draw down channel inventory, resulting in Qualcomm undershipping end demand by a material amount. — Memory supply tightness is distorting handset supply chains; when inventory normalization completes, Qualcomm's handset revenue should snap back to align with sell-through, potentially boosting future quarters.
Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 PC platform is claimed to outperform Intel's newest chip by ~30% on agentic AI workloads, with the world's fastest laptop NPU at 85 TOPS, driving a competitive shift in the PC CPU market. — If sustained, this performance lead could accelerate Qualcomm's share gains in PCs and force Intel/AMD to respond, reshaping the CPU competitive landscape.
… is now a serious challenger in the PC space and states, quote, the generational leap from the original Snapdragon X Elite to the X2 series is particularly striking. Qualcomm hasn't just caught up to the industry. in some cases, is now helping to set the pace, unquote. In addition, our Hexagon NPU is the world's fastest for laptops delivering up to 85 tops. Together with our industry-leading CPU, which has the best on-device token generation rate, Snapdragon X2 delivers the full agent experience end-to-end and outperforms Intel's Pinter Lake by nearly 30%. In physical and industrial AI, our new Dragon Wing IQ10 platform has generated substantial customer interest since our launch at CES. This is a significant upgrade compared to IQ9, featuring an NPU with up to 700 tops of own-device AI performance, an 18-core Orion CPU, over 20 camera sensors, and an integrated safety island. Building on our design win with Figure AI, we announced an exciting multi-year agreement with Nura, reinforcing our confidence that we can become a significant player in the broad robotics market. Also during the quarter, we introduced Ventuno Q at Embedded World. This is the second Arduino platform …