Qualcomm Q3 2026: Automotive Surge Can't Save a Smartphone Slump
As seen on the 24/7 Wall St. homepage on July 29, 2026.
Qualcomm's smartphone business collapsed 20% while automotive chips surged 61%, forcing the chipmaker to miss earnings for the first time in six quarters as input cost inflation squeezed margins, but CEO Cristiano Amon is betting the company can reach $40 billion in non-handset revenue by fiscal 2029 to offset the handset decline.
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Qualcomm reported Q3 2026 earnings per share of $2.21, just a hair below the $2.22 consensus estimate — the company's first EPS miss in six quarters. Revenue of roughly $9.95 billion came in about 2.8% ahead of expectations, but the top-line beat wasn't enough to offset the margin pressure from input cost inflation that weighed on the bottom line.
The quarter exposed the sharpest tension inside Qualcomm's business in recent memory. The smartphone segment, still the company's largest revenue driver, collapsed 20%, dragging overall revenue well below the $10.6 billion posted in Q2 2026 and back toward levels last seen in Q3 2024. Automotive chips told the opposite story, surging 61% and underscoring how quickly that segment is becoming a meaningful counterweight to handset volatility.
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CEO Cristiano Amon has set a clear long-term target in response: $40 billion in non-handset revenue by fiscal 2029. Whether automotive momentum — alongside other diversification efforts — can scale fast enough to hit that number is the central question investors will be tracking in the quarters ahead.
Mentioned: QCOM