Smartphone chip shipments fall 15% as memory crisis deepens

Global smartphone System-on-Chip shipments fell 15% year-on-year in the first half of 2026, according to Counterpoint Research, as a memory price surge driven by AI data center demand continues to reshape the mobile industry's economics.eetasia+1

Memory Costs Overtake Chip Costs

Memory prices surged more than 300% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2026, pushing RAM costs above SoC costs across every smartphone price segment for the first time. The crisis traces back to memory manufacturers redirecting wafer capacity toward high-bandwidth memory chips used in AI data centers, squeezing supply available for consumer devices.thenextweb+2

Contract prices for mainstream smartphone memory modules began climbing steeply in late 2025. By early 2026, memory had grown from 10–15% of a smartphone's bill of materials to 30–40%, according to TrendForce. Morgan Stanley ↘ 3.99% data cited by Google Alphabet Inc. ↗ 0.95% shows the cost of one gigabyte of RAM jumped from $2.80 in 2025 to $12 this year.evertiq+3

Winners and Losers Among Chipmakers

The downturn hit unevenly. MediaTek and Qualcomm ↘ 4.42% each saw shipments fall more than 25% year-on-year, while Apple ↘ 0.56%, Samsung, Google, and UNISOC gained share. Apple's gains were fueled by strong iPhone 17 sales, while UNISOC benefited from OEMs shifting entry-level models to cheaper 4G platforms to offset rising memory bills.reddit+1

GenAI-capable smartphone SoCs bucked the trend, growing 24% year-on-year as consumers continued trading up for on-device AI features.eetasia

Industry Braces for Extended Shortage

Counterpoint projects full-year 2026 SoC shipments will decline 14%, with entry-level shipments dropping more than 30%. Principal Analyst Soumen Mandal warned that memory supply is unlikely to normalize before the second half of 2027, meaning "the smartphone industry could experience another difficult year in 2027".eetasia

The pricing pressure is already reaching consumers. Google VP of Devices and Services Shakil Barkat confirmed last week that the entire Pixel family will see price increases, describing the situation as "a severe, supplier-driven RAM memory crisis" and adding that "there's never been an increase in memory prices like the world's going through right now". The company will announce specific Pixel 11 pricing at its August 12 event, though leaks point to roughly $100 increases across the lineup with base RAM reduced from 16GB to 12GB on some models.neowin+3