DRAM prices are killing the cheap smartphone

personal tech

Now eats 60% of a sub-$400 handset's bill of materials and it's only getting worse

Rising memory prices are making budget smartphones commercially unviable to produce, forcing users to delay upgrades, pay more for higher-tier devices, or turn to the second-hand market instead.

This is according to analyst Omdia, which estimates memory costs accounted for almost 60 percent of the total bill of materials in sub-$400 smartphones during calendar Q1 of 2026 – and things haven't improved since then.

In fact, market watcher TrendForce predicted last month that the tech industry will see DRAM prices jump by another 50 percent or more in 2026, making it almost impossible for budget device makers to avoid passing on the component cost hike.

To offset rising memory costs, manufacturers have tried switching to cheaper display panels, sensors, or radio frequency (RF) modules – but low-end phones are already built on such...

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