Report: Future smartphones to come with less RAM than today, thanks to AI

What happens when there is an inflation in one of the components of a smartphone? The manufacturers raise the device's overall price. But if that's not possible in the competitive market, device makers can even shift to reverse gear.

This could happen with the smartphones expected to be released in 2026. Memory prices are soaring, and OEMs might be forced to water down device specifications to stay in the price war, according to leaker Lanzuk (@yeux1122) on Naver.

The claims are echoed by a recent report from the market intelligence firm, TrendForce, which said that "memory prices are projected to rise sharply again in the first quarter of 2026, exerting significant cost pressure on global end-device manufacturers."

The leaker said that smartphones with 16GB RAM might get closer to the point of extinction, and that 4GB RAM models are expected to increase significantly. In fact, there could be smartphones that are pricier even after being fitted with less RAM than their current counterparts.

Smartphones with 12GB RAM could be reduced by 40% and replaced by 6GB/8GB models. Meanwhile, 8GB models could see a 50% reduction and get replaced by 4GB/6GB models.

Price hikes are crucial in making or breaking a smartphone brand. We have recently learnt that Samsung is looking to continue using the same camera hardware for next year's Galaxy S26 to compete with Apple's price freeze on the base iPhone 17.

The memory market has reached this situation mainly because of the AI boom in recent years. Businesses and enterprises want more High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) for the AI data centers and servers. On the other hand, memory manufacturers are drifting away from consumer RAM as they see more incentive and profits in enterprise products.

Manufacturers don't have enough production capacity to cater to both consumer and enterprise markets. As a result, they are preferring HBMs over consumer DRAMs, driving prices through the roof.

The memory price surge is also affecting the laptop market. According to another TrendForce report, leading PC brands such as Dell and Lenovo have begun notifying customers of upcoming price hikes. Dell is expected to raise its prices by 15-20%, with the increase potentially taking effect as early as mid-December.

Micron announced earlier this month that it's exiting the consumer market and shutting down the popular storage and memory products brand Crucial. The price mess might spill into the second half of 2026, leading to price hikes if needed.

HP CEO Enrique Lores reportedly noted that RAM chips could eat between 15% and 18% of a typical PC's cost. With the memory chips taking up a larger share of the Bill of Materials (BOM) costs, Apple is expected to rethink its pricing strategy for newer models and consider reducing price cuts on older versions.

Image via DepositPhotos.com

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Posted Sunday 14 December 2025 at 3:17 am AEST (my time).

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