{"id":506246,"date":"2026-03-01T00:01:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T00:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/506246\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T00:01:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T00:01:16","slug":"memory-shortage-could-cause-the-biggest-dip-in-smartphone-shipments-in-over-a-decade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/506246\/","title":{"rendered":"Memory shortage could cause the biggest dip in smartphone shipments in over a decade"},"content":{"rendered":"

A rise in the need for computers and data centers to power AI is causing a massive shortage of RAM<\/a>, driving memory prices sharply higher<\/a>. Now, analyst firm IDC predicts that this will cause smartphone shipments to plummet by 12.9% this year, making it the biggest single-year dip in more than a decade. Hours after IDC published its report, another analyst firm, Counterpoint, made a similar prediction<\/a> and said the market will dip by 12% this year.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, IDC reported that manufacturers shipped 1.26 billion devices in 2025<\/a>. The firm predicts that figure will drop to just 1.12 billion this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe memory crisis will cause more than a temporary decline; it marks a structural reset of the entire market, fundamentally reshaping the long\u2011term TAM [total addressable market], the vendor landscape, and the product mix,\u201d said Nabila Popal, senior research director with IDC\u2019s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, in a statement.<\/p>\n

\"\"Image Credits:IDC<\/p>\n

Popal said that because of memory shortage, the average retail price of a smartphone is expected to rise by 14%.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect consolidation as smaller players exit, and low-end vendors face sharp shipment declines amid supply constraints and lower demand at higher price points. Although shipments will witness a record drop, smartphone ASP [average selling price] is projected to rise 14% to a record $523 this year,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Popal also noted that rising component costs could make the sub-$100 smartphone \u201cpermanently uneconomical,\u201d pricing out phone makers that manufacture devices at that price point.<\/p>\n

The firm said that, because of this trend, shipments in the Middle East and Africa will drop more than 20% year-over-year. China and the broader Asia Pacific region (excluding Japan) will also see declines of 10.5% and 13.1%, respectively.<\/p>\n

Techcrunch event<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBoston, MA
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t|
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJune 9, 2026\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

IDC added that it expects RAM prices to stabilize by mid-2027.<\/p>\n

Counterpoint said that premium smartphones would be more resilient to this change, but the sub-$200 smartphone segment will see a 20% dip. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe impact is expected to continue through H2 2027, as it will take several quarters for memory supply expansion to materialize. Lower-end smartphones are likely to be affected the most, especially as LPDDR4 supply is shrinking faster than expected. OEMs are already responding with launch delays, streamlined portfolios, and specification trade-offs. We have also observed 10% to 20% price increases across some Android OEM portfolios in January 2026,\u201d Principal Analyst Yang Wang said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Image Credits:Counterpoint<\/p>\n

The firm also predicted that pricing volatility amid handsets will also drive the second-hand devices market up. <\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Nothing co-founder and CEO Carl Pei also warned that smartphones will cost more in 2026 as memory costs for smartphones rise. \u201cBrands now face a simple choice: raise prices by 30% or more in some cases, or downgrade specs. The \u2018more specs for less money\u2019 model that many value brands were built on is no longer sustainable in 2026,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a result, some markets, particularly entry and mid-tier segments, are likely to shrink by 20% or more, and brands that have historically dominated these segments will struggle,\u201d Pei added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A rise in the need for computers and data centers to power AI is causing a massive shortage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":506247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[49,48,190,7103,1124,61],"class_list":["post-506246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mobile","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mobile","tag-nothing","tag-smartphones","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}