Qualcomm reported Q3 FY2026 results at the high end of guidance but faces near-term headwinds from memory-driven smartphone market contraction and a material reduction in Apple modem share. Management raised its automotive run-rate target to $7B, highlighted early data center custom silicon revenue starting in December, and announced price increases across the portfolio to offset input cost inflation. Q3 revenue $9.9B, non-GAAP EPS $2.21 at high end of guidance; Q4 guide $9.7-10.5B revenue and $2.05-2.25 EPS.
Qualcomm reported Q3 FY2026 results at the high end of guidance but faces near-term headwinds from memory-driven smartphone market contraction and a material reduction in Apple modem share. Management raised its automotive run-rate target to $7B, highlighted early data center custom silicon revenue starting in December, and announced price increases across the portfolio to offset input cost inflation. Q3 revenue $9.9B, non-GAAP EPS $2.21 at high end of guidance; Q4 guide $9.7-10.5B revenue and $2.05-2.25 EPS.
Management expressed strong confidence in long-term diversification and raised fiscal 2029 revenue targets, despite acknowledging short-term headwinds from memory prices, input costs, and Apple revenue decline.
Management highlighted that agentic workloads are reshaping AI economics, driving inference disaggregation and distribution across data center to edge devices, and they see an emerging agentic smartphone cycle with on-device agents and orchestrators from Chinese OEMs.
Apple modem share for upcoming iPhone launch is 'materially lower' than prior 20% estimate, accelerating Apple revenue step-down.
Guidance · revenue to $10.1B
Management highlighted that agentic workloads are reshaping AI economics, driving inference disaggregation and distribution across data center to edge devices, and they see an emerging agentic smartphone cycle with on-device agents and orchestrators from Chinese OEMs.
Raised automotive exit run rate to $7B. Management expressed strong confidence in long-term diversification and raised fiscal 2029 revenue targets, despite acknowledging short-term headwinds from memory prices, input costs, and Apple revenue decline.
Management noted continued investment in the data center product roadmap ahead of revenue ramp, with wafer production begun for custom silicon, while facing broad-based supply chain shortages and input cost increases across wafer, assembly, test, and packaging.
Management expressed strong confidence in long-term diversification and raised fiscal 2029 revenue targets, despite acknowledging short-term headwinds from memory prices, input costs, and Apple revenue decline.
“our share for upcoming iPhone launch is expected to be materially lower than our prior estimate of 20%.”
“we estimate that QCT handset revenues from Chinese OEMs reach the bottom in the third fiscal quarter and will return to double-digit sequential growth in the fourth quarter.”
“we're raising that outlook and now expect annualized sales of approximately $7 billion exiting fiscal 2026.”
| Metric | Period | Range | Midpoint | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EPS | FY2026 Q4 | $2.05–$2.25 | $2.15 | GUIDED |
| Gross marginQCT | FY2026 Q4 | 23%–25% | 24% | GUIDED |
| Gross marginQTL | FY2026 Q4 | 68%–72% | 70% | GUIDED |
| RevenueHANDSET | FY2026 Q4 | $5.2B | $5.2B | GUIDED |
| Revenue | FY2026 Q4 | $9.7B–$10.5B | $10.1B | GUIDED |
| RevenueAUTOMOTIVE | FY2026 | $7B | $7B | RAISED |
| RevenueQCT | FY2026 Q4 | $8.4B–$9B | $8.7B | GUIDED |
| RevenueQTL | FY2026 Q4 | $1.2B–$1.4B | $1.3B | GUIDED |
| Issued | Metric | Target | Guide | Actual | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2026 Q2 | EPS | FY2026 Q3 | $2.10–$2.30 | $2.21 | Met / beat |
| FY2026 Q2 | Revenue | FY2026 Q3 | $9.2B–$10B | $9.947B | Met / beat |
| FY2026 Q2 | Revenue | FY2026 Q3 | $4.9B | $5.1B | Met / beat |
| FY2026 Q2 | Revenue | FY2026 Q3 | $1.15B–$1.35B | $1.3B | Met / beat |
| 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 |
Apple's share of Qualcomm modems for the upcoming iPhone launch is 'materially lower' than the prior 20% estimate, implying Apple's internal modem is ramping faster than expected. — This signals Apple's modem self-sufficiency is accelerating, reducing a long-term revenue stream for Qualcomm and increasing Apple's gross margin control.
“we now expect an acceleration in the step-down of Apple product revenues, starting in the fourth fiscal quarter, as our share for upcoming iPhone launch is expected to be materially lower than our prior estimate of 20%.”
… semiconductor industry is experiencing broad-based increase in input costs across wafer fabrication, assembly, test, advanced packaging, memory, and other materials. We are taking concrete actions to reflect the higher input costs in our product pricing. These actions will benefit our gross margins over time as the pricing changes gradually come into effect. Finally, as a result of our supply constraint, we now expect an acceleration in the step-down of Apple product revenues, starting in the fourth fiscal quarter, as our share for upcoming iPhone launch is expected to be materially lower than our prior estimate of 20%. All these factors are contemplated both in our third quarter performance and fourth quarter outlook. Against this backdrop, I'll now provide our guidance for the fourth fiscal quarter. We are forecasting revenues of $9.7 to $10.5 billion and non-GAAP EPS of $2.05 to $2.25. In QTL, we estimate revenues of $1.2 to $1.4 billion, an EBIT margin of 68% to 72%, reflecting normal seasonal trends. In QCT, we expect revenues of $8.4 to $9 billion and EBT margins of 23% to 25%. We forecast QCT hands-up revenues to be approximately $5.2 billion, driven by sequential …
Samsung continues to rely heavily on Qualcomm for its premium smartphones, a sign of strong product partnership and continued high-end device innovation.
“Our share position at Samsung remains strong, with Snapdragon powering Approximately 70% of their flagship devices.”
… billion, with over $3.5 billion in design wind secured this fiscal year. Moving on to handsets. Despite overall industry contraction caused by the current memory environment, we're seeing early signs of an agentic smartphone cycle that will grow over time. In China, major OEMs are preparing to bring new on-device agents and orchestrators to market, and we believe agentic experiences will play a larger role in premium tier demand as adoption grows. Our share position at Samsung remains strong, with Snapdragon powering Approximately 70% of their flagship devices. As announced at Samsung Unpack, our collaboration is now expanding across the wider Galaxy ecosystem from the latest foldable phones and Galaxy watches to intelligent eyewear developed with Google, bringing new agentic experiences to more devices. This reflects a broader potential to reimagine mobile for the age of agentic AI. Beyond smartphones, PCs, smart glasses, and other new personal AI form factors are all becoming endpoints for agents. That creates a significant multi-year upgrade opportunity for Qualcomm, as today's install base needs to evolve to enable more personal, contextual, and autonomous AI experience. In …
Automotive annualized revenue run rate exiting fiscal 2026 was raised from $6B to $7B, reflecting faster-than-expected content ramp per vehicle. — Design wins with BMW and Stellantis are converting to revenue faster, indicating a structural increase in automotive semiconductor content that benefits Qualcomm's automotive partners and suppliers.
“we signed a landmark expanded agreement with BMW, winning a highly competitive selection process to become the lead compute silicon provider for their next generation ADAS as well as digital cockpit.”
… the current industry approach to AI software from closed to open systems to promote enhanced competition, innovation, and resilience. Modular will host ModCon in August. with some incredible announcements from industry partners and we look forward to further engaging with developers and ecosystem partners at this event. In automotive, customer momentum continues to drive exceptional revenue growth. This quarter, we signed a landmark expanded agreement with BMW, winning a highly competitive selection process to become the lead compute silicon provider for their next generation ADAS as well as digital cockpit. This agreement represents a material expansion of our automotive pipeline and establishes Qualcomm as the lead compute silicon partner for BMW, extending across model programs for well into the next decade. We look forward to building on our existing cooperation with BMW in the years ahead. Additionally, our recently announced collaboration with Stellantis supports our automotive pipeline well into the 2030s. These agreements reflect the broad interest we're seeing for Digital Cockpit and ADAS. Customers are shifting from socket-by-socket design awards to multi-generation …
Automotive annualized revenue run rate exiting fiscal 2026 was raised from $6B to $7B, reflecting faster-than-expected content ramp per vehicle. — Design wins with BMW and Stellantis are converting to revenue faster, indicating a structural increase in automotive semiconductor content that benefits Qualcomm's automotive partners and suppliers.
“our recently announced collaboration with Stellantis supports our automotive pipeline well into the 2030s.”
… winning a highly competitive selection process to become the lead compute silicon provider for their next generation ADAS as well as digital cockpit. This agreement represents a material expansion of our automotive pipeline and establishes Qualcomm as the lead compute silicon partner for BMW, extending across model programs for well into the next decade. We look forward to building on our existing cooperation with BMW in the years ahead. Additionally, our recently announced collaboration with Stellantis supports our automotive pipeline well into the 2030s. These agreements reflect the broad interest we're seeing for Digital Cockpit and ADAS. Customers are shifting from socket-by-socket design awards to multi-generation strategic engagements as they increasingly recognize the value of our broad technology portfolio, platform approach, and long-term commitment to partnerships, the automotive industry, and open ecosystems. Further, with our fifth-generation Snapdragon digital chassis ramping in September, we We're delivering a significant increase in content per vehicle, and we are on track to become the number one automotive semiconductor player by revenue. Last quarter, we said …
Google is deepening its AI PC collaboration with Qualcomm, using Snapdragon chips for Gemini-enabled laptops, expanding the AI compute ecosystem.
… devices. This reflects a broader potential to reimagine mobile for the age of agentic AI. Beyond smartphones, PCs, smart glasses, and other new personal AI form factors are all becoming endpoints for agents. That creates a significant multi-year upgrade opportunity for Qualcomm, as today's install base needs to evolve to enable more personal, contextual, and autonomous AI experience. In PCs, we're growing our leading share of design wins in Google Books, bringing Snapdragon together with Gemini Intelligence for a new generation of AI-first laptops. With Microsoft, we're collaborating on Project Solara, a chip-to-cloud platform designed for agent-first enterprise devices. And through our Snapdragon Start program for smart glasses, we're delivering a complete reference platform that enables eyewear brands to develop their own devices. With roughly 600 million global eyewear units shipped every year, this program will help expand the ecosystem and accelerate the transition of this category to smart glasses. You will hear more about this at Snapdragon Summit in September. At Investor Day, we lay out our vision for Qualcomm's next chapter and our path toward our fiscal 2029 …
Microsoft is co-developing an enterprise AI platform with Qualcomm, signaling strong demand for on-device AI processing in corporate environments.
… PCs, smart glasses, and other new personal AI form factors are all becoming endpoints for agents. That creates a significant multi-year upgrade opportunity for Qualcomm, as today's install base needs to evolve to enable more personal, contextual, and autonomous AI experience. In PCs, we're growing our leading share of design wins in Google Books, bringing Snapdragon together with Gemini Intelligence for a new generation of AI-first laptops. With Microsoft, we're collaborating on Project Solara, a chip-to-cloud platform designed for agent-first enterprise devices. And through our Snapdragon Start program for smart glasses, we're delivering a complete reference platform that enables eyewear brands to develop their own devices. With roughly 600 million global eyewear units shipped every year, this program will help expand the ecosystem and accelerate the transition of this category to smart glasses. You will hear more about this at Snapdragon Summit in September. At Investor Day, we lay out our vision for Qualcomm's next chapter and our path toward our fiscal 2029 targets. We already seen an inflection in our non-handset businesses which underscores the success of our …
China handset revenue bottomed in the June quarter and is expected to return to double-digit sequential growth in the September quarter, driven by normalised channel inventory. — This suggests the inventory correction in the Chinese smartphone market is ending, which will boost demand for memory and other components from suppliers like Micron.
… revenues in QCT, including automotive and IoT, grew 28% year-over-year, underscoring the continued execution of our diversification strategy. Lastly, we returned $2.3 billion to stockholders, including $1.4 billion in share repurchases and $937 million in dividends. Before turning to guidance, I'd like to provide an update on a couple factors reflected in our financial performance. Consistent with our expectations, we estimate that QCT handset revenues from Chinese OEMs reach the bottom in the third fiscal quarter and will return to double-digit sequential growth in the fourth quarter. Second, the semiconductor industry is experiencing broad-based increase in input costs across wafer fabrication, assembly, test, advanced packaging, memory, and other materials. We are taking concrete actions to reflect the higher input costs in our product pricing. These actions will benefit our gross margins over time as the pricing changes gradually come into effect. Finally, as a result of our supply constraint, we now expect an acceleration in the step-down of Apple product revenues, starting in the fourth fiscal quarter, as our share for upcoming iPhone launch is expected to be …