The prices of our smartphones have been going up over the years. Remember when the first iPhone was launched at just $499? These days, we’re looking at phones that can reach up to $2,000. If you were hoping to see phone prices go down, keep dreaming. If anything, don’t be surprised if we see phones get more expensive in the future as memory prices are set to double.
Memory prices could double
According to a recent Counterpoint Research report, we can expect to see memory prices double in the near future. Counterpoint says that it expects to see memory prices rise by 50% or more by mid-2026.
This upward trend is largely due to several factors. For starters, there is a shortage of critical chips. As you might know, the law of supply and demand means that the lower the supply, the higher the prices. Right now, there is a shortage in LPDDR4 memory. This type of memory can be found in budget smartphones and other consumer electronics.
If supply remains tight, budget phone prices might have to increase as manufacturers might have to turn to more expensive types of RAM. Either that or we could see budget phones become harder to get.
Secondly, we suppose you could also “blame” companies like NVIDIA. The company has recently started prioritizing the use of LPDDR memory for its servers. This is a departure from the DDR5 ECC memory that was traditionally used. Given NVIDIA’s growth and leadership in the AI hardware space, its shift could result in greater demand for the memory. This could result in memory manufacturers being unable to keep up with supply.
We have been warned
Counterpoint’s report is in line with what we have been hearing elsewhere. Recently, the Xiaomi president had warned that smartphones in 2026 could be even more expensive. The reason? Yup, you guessed it right, memory prices.
We said earlier that companies like NVIDIA are pivoting to LPDDR-type memory for their data centers. But it’s not just NVIDIA. Even Samsung, which makes memory, has started to deprioritize memory production for phones. The company knows that AI data centers are where the money’s at right now. So, by focusing on memory for data centers and not phones, it will lead to a shortage of phone memory and ultimately drive prices up.
In any case, it was probably a pipe dream to even expect to see phone prices go back down. Rarely has there ever been a case where once the prices are raised, they drop. Luckily, smartphone technology has progressed to the point where even mid-range phones are pretty powerful in their own right.
So, if you don’t need a top-tier smartphone, you could save money by opting for a mid-range one instead.
