2026 may be the year when smartphones get more RAM, here's why

Smartphones

• Global DRAM shortage expected to persist through 2027, keeping supply tight
• Smartphones to ship with more RAM due to rising AI demands despite supply issues
• Higher RAM may raise smartphone prices due to volatile memory costs.

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The global memory shortage continues to ripple across the technology industry, and fresh forecasts suggest the situation will not ease anytime soon. Despite these supply pressures, upcoming smartphones are still expected to ship with more RAM than previous generations, driven largely by the growing demands of on-device AI.

According to a report from ETNews, the current DRAM shortage is likely to persist until at least next year, with constraints extending through 2027. The core issue is a mismatch between supply and demand. Production capacity has not scaled quickly enough, while AI workloads across multiple industries continue to consume increasingly large amounts of memory.

AI models are particularly memory-hungry, and RAM has become one of the most contested components in the supply chain. This has already resulted in price increases and uneven availability, as manufacturers struggle to keep pace with demand from data centres, automobiles, and consumer electronics. The report notes that production limits remain a key bottleneck, even as major players invest in new facilities and technologies.

Samsung, one of the world’s largest memory producers, is reportedly expanding its manufacturing footprint. However, much of its focus is on High Bandwidth Memory used in large-scale AI systems rather than consumer devices such as smartphones. This prioritisation means that while capacity may increase overall, relief for mobile-focused DRAM supply could remain limited.

China-based CXMT is also working to ramp up production, but its efforts are largely aimed at serving the domestic Chinese market. As a result, global supply pressures are expected to remain largely unchanged, reinforcing forecasts that the shortage will linger for several more years.

At the same time, demand continues to rise sharply. Estimates suggest overall memory demand could be around 23 percent higher in 2026. This increase is being driven by higher memory requirements per device across several categories. Data centres are expected to increase memory usage by roughly 25 percent, automobiles by around 36 percent, and smartphones by approximately 16 percent. PCs are also projected to see a rise of about 15 percent in memory allocations.

For smartphones, this trend points to a steady shift towards higher RAM configurations. As on-device AI features become more central to user experiences, manufacturers are under pressure to equip phones with enough memory to handle these tasks efficiently. While a 16 percent increase may not sound dramatic, in practical terms it could mean more flagship phones moving from 8GB or 12GB of RAM to 16GB. Budget devices, meanwhile, may gradually transition away from 4GB configurations towards 6GB or 8GB as a new baseline.

This direction already aligns with strategies seen from companies like Google, which has consistently equipped its Pixel smartphones with comparatively higher RAM to support local AI processing. The Pixel lineup has often prioritised memory headroom over other specifications at similar price points, reflecting the growing importance of on-device intelligence.

However, there is a trade-off. With memory prices remaining volatile, adding more RAM to smartphones could push device costs higher. As demand continues to outstrip supply, manufacturers may have limited room to absorb these increases without passing them on to consumers. While higher RAM promises smoother AI features and longer device relevance, it could also contribute to more expensive smartphones over the next few years.