US EditionSmartphone market poised for ‘sharpest decline on record’ in 2026
The ongoing RAM shortage driven by AI demand will raise smartphone prices by 14% and cause a 12.9% shipment decline, hitting low-end models hardest, IDC says.
- Today IDC downgraded mobile shipment estimates, forecasting a 13% decline in global smartphone shipments for 2026 to 1.1 billion from 1.26 billion in 2025.
- The reallocation of DRAM toward HBM has drained the global memory supply into next year, as AI companies buy large quantities for data centers just four months into the crisis.
- IDC's analysts note a scale advantage for larger vendors as the average selling price is forecast to hit this year; `This is a scale game...` Ma said.
- Cheap Android models are set to suffer the most as manufacturers exiting the lower-end market face shrinking margins, while Apple and Samsung remain better positioned despite higher memory costs.
- With no relief expected until mid-2027, IDC warns memory prices may not return to post-2025 levels, with stabilization possibly only by 2028, entrenching higher smartphone costs.
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Global smartphone shipments will decrease by 12.9% year-on-year by 2026, to reach 1.1 billion units.
‘The tariffs and pandemic crisis seem a joke compared to this’: Cheap phones could be gone forever thanks to the RAM crisis, a new report claims
The smartphone market could be forever changed by the RAM crisis, says a new report — and Android could be hit particularly badly.
The lack of memory is affecting several sectors, which have recorded or forecast price increases. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), the global smartphone market should fall by 13% in 2026,...
Worldwide smartphones could record the largest annual decline in the last decade, 13%, and the main factor is the RAM memory deficit, showing the IDC analysis company. They are expected and...
Why a memory chip shortage could soon drive up prices
A boom of investment in artificial intelligence has led to an unforeseen problem: a shortage of the world's memory chip supply, which threatens to drive up the price of consumer electronics like laptops, smartphones and video game consoles.
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