Due to the high cost of Mobile DRAM, the mobile phone market was obviously under pressure at the beginning of this year, and may face price increases and specification regressions. The bad news is that according to information released by a market research agency, Mobile DRAM contract prices continue to soar in the second quarter of 2026, which is bound to affect the mobile phone market in the second half of the year.
According to a report issued by market research firm TrendForce, Mobile DRAM contract prices continued to rise sharply in the second quarter of 2026, with LPDDR5X soaring by 78-83% and LPDDR4X also reaching 70-75%.
The report predicts that DRAM price increases will mean that mobile phone production may be forced to come under pressure. At the same time, mobile phone specifications will also be adjusted due to cost. For example, flagship models will be reduced from 16GB to 12GB, mid-range models will return to 8GB, and entry-level models will be reduced to around 4GB.
The overall tone of the report favors reductions in mobile phone production and distribution and price increases in the second quarter. However, due to the elimination of low-capacity RAM, the average storage capacity will still increase to 8.5GB, a year-on-year increase of about 10%.
Short comment from Mobile Magazine: Faced with the sharp increase in DRAM costs, mobile phone manufacturers are expected to control costs more carefully to maintain product competitiveness, while at the same time enhancing the efficiency of system App storage applications and increasing the proportion of cloud services in response.
Source: TrendForce TrendForce
