Higher prices, less RAM: What to expect from smartphones in 2026

New tips suggest that phones in 2026 could drop high-RAM variants such as 16GB, even as prices rise.

RAM prices the world over are going up on the consumer side, as big-name companies are dedicating their resources to producing RAM modules for AI clients. Amid this, a direct consequence is expected to trickle down to smartphones, wherein 16GB RAM phones, which are quite common these days in the flagship segment, could become less prevalent starting next year. As for budget phones, which had slowly crept up from 4GB to 8GB RAM, they could return to 4GB as well. Here’s what we know.

Flagships in 2025 got costlier.

By Shaurya Sharma

Shaurya Sharma is the Technology Editor at Hindustan Times Digital Streams, where he oversees technology coverage across digital and social platforms. With over eight years of experience across editorial, video production, and digital media, his work focuses on smartphones, AI, consumer gadgets, and shaping audience-first content strategies for modern tech consumers.

He began his career in 2018 as a fashion cinematographer before turning his lifelong passion for technology into a profession. From spending his childhood immersed in tech magazines, video games, and the latest gadgets to covering the global consumer tech industry today, technology has remained a constant throughout his journey.

Over the years, Shaurya has worked with some of India’s leading media organisations, including CNN-News18, Sportskeeda, and Guiding Tech, where he led video initiatives that combined strong editorial storytelling with engaging visual and social-first execution.

A graduate in Journalism and Mass Communication from Manipal University, Shaurya has reviewed hundreds of products across categories including smartphones, laptops, gaming consoles, cameras, and wearables. Beyond work, he is passionate about animal welfare, environmental causes, and automobiles, particularly turbo-petrol cars

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Less RAM, Higher Price

This comes from leaker Lanzuk on the website Naver, who says that an increase in memory prices could force the smartphone industry to raise device prices. He claims that the number of phones offering 12GB RAM is down by about 40%, with more smartphone makers opting for 6GB and 8GB as their base configurations. Even 8GB RAM, which has almost become the standard these days, has reportedly seen a decline of around 50%.

He adds that in 2026, consumers can expect smartphones to become more expensive while offering less RAM than before.

So why is there a sudden RAM shortage?

As AI continues to advance and the demand for computing power increases, companies such as OpenAI, Google, and Meta are building larger infrastructure, which requires GPUs. For AI models to function and be trained, there is a massive demand for GPUs, and a key component of these GPUs is high-bandwidth memory.

Manufacturers like Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron produce HBM for companies such as Nvidia. To prioritise this, they are cutting back on the production of consumer-grade RAM, largely to boost profits. This has reduced capacity for consumer-grade memory, leading to a shortage and driving prices up in the market.

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