Budget smartphone market collapses under the weight of memory shortages, sales expected to drop 22% — memory alone now comprises up to 64% of the total cost of lower-tier smartphones

What happened

Budget smartphone shipments are projected to plummet 22% in 2026 as memory costs surge to 64% of the bill of materials. Manufacturers are diverting wafer starts to high-margin HBM, starving commodity memory supply. This creates a bearish outlook for standard DRAM and NAND flash prices as entry-level demand evaporates.

Impact and signal

Affected components and suppliers

Source and time

Source: Tom's Hardware · 7/8/2026 · View original source