Samsung Electronics' smartphone plant utilization rate reached 84.1% in the first half of this year, returning to roughly pre-COVID-19 levels after remaining in the 60%-70% range for six years from 2020. The recovery began with the AI-powered Galaxy S24 series in 2024 and accelerated with the Galaxy S26 series, whose privacy display helped domestic sales exceed 3 million units two months faster than its predecessor. Counterpoint Research expects global smartphone shipments to fall 14.3% this year while Samsung's shipments rise 0.8%, potentially giving it a 22.6% share versus Apple's 22.5%. Samsung's second-quarter market share rose from 20% to 24% even as global shipments declined 11%. Its flagship-focused portfolio, vertical supply-chain integration and restrained average selling-price increases have supported demand amid rising memory-driven production costs, or chipflation. Samsung's smartphone recovery is also linked to improved Exynos application processors, with internal evaluations finding the next-generation Exynos 2700 ahead of Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 in CPU, GPU, AI computation and power efficiency. The chip is planned for Samsung Foundry's SF2P second-generation 2-nanometer process, potentially lowering component costs for the MX division while supporting foundry utilization. Samsung spent ₩7.44 trillion, about $5.4 billion, on application processors in the first half. Separately, Samsung Foundry secured major orders from Tesla and Apple, signed a $200 billion-scale cooperation agreement with Broadcom, and raised 4-nanometer and 5-nanometer process prices by up to 15%. Kiwoom Securities forecasts non-memory operating profit of ₩151 billion, or about $108.9 million, in the third quarter, which would be its first quarterly profit since the fourth quarter of 2022, after 15 quarters.