With RAM prices soaring, it's time next-gen phone specs got creative

[ad_1] The RAM disaster impacts smartphones, PC elements, handheld sport consoles, and extra, is actually beginning to chunk. Between product delays, cancellations, and the expectation of worth hikes, 2026 isn’t shaping as much as be a very good 12 months for getting new devices. Whereas the outlook isn’t nice, the tech business stays adaptive, if nothing else. Each disaster can also be a possibility, and I’m not the one one who thinks that.

I've some sympathy for Carl Pei’s place that the RAM scarcity presents a possibility for manufacturers which can be much less depending on spec sheets — and the looming worth will increase — to market their wares. I don’t assume that Nothing is strictly primed to profit any greater than anybody else (inexpensive telephones are in all probability extra susceptible to BOM worth hikes), however that’s by the by. The RAM scarcity would possibly current some alternatives for manufacturers to interrupt the mould, however will they take it?

How a lot RAM do it's essential to purchase?

<img class="e_jg" decoding="async" loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 64rem) 51.25rem, 80vw" title="Smartphone RAM" srcset="https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Smartphone-RAM.jpg 1920w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Smartphone-RAM-64w-36h.jpg 64w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Smartphone-RAM-1000w-563h.jpg 1000w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Smartphone-RAM-1536w-864h.jpg 1536w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Smartphone-RAM-675w-380h.jpg 675w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Smartphone-RAM-300w-170h.jpg 300w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Smartphone-RAM-1280w-720h.jpg 1280w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Smartphone-RAM-840w-472h.jpg 840w" alt="Smartphone RAM" src="https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Smartphone-RAM.jpg"/> Robert Triggs / Android Authority

The large choice that manufacturers need to make is how greatest to reply to this shared downside. Merely charging extra or settling for much less RAM (and maybe space for storing) to carry costs regular are the apparent choices, however they could even be the weakest: shoppers will ask why they’re paying extra for a similar {hardware} or why the spec sheet is weaker this 12 months. Ready to see what your rivals do additionally looks like a no-win state of affairs.

For the sake of argument, let’s assume manufacturers unanimously come to the conclusion that everybody’s costs are prone to go up in 2026. The query then turns into: might — or ought to — you make investments that headroom in one thing apart from reminiscence?

As an alternative of spending extra on RAM, possibly manufacturers can improve different specs?

There are positively some attention-grabbing choices that could possibly be made. Maybe a baseline $799 flagship can accept 8GB of RAM (which was completely advantageous a few years in the past) as an alternative of 12GB, and spend the distinction on bettering its digital camera setup. Everybody loves better-looking footage, and a greater digital camera, or an additional one, is an effective strategy to get a leg up on the competitors. Alternatively, investing in a bigger silicon-carbon battery would stand out excess of a bit of additional RAM.

Perhaps mid-range telephones can lastly spring for these dear IP scores, or make investments a bit extra money in design and construct supplies. Alternatively, manufacturers might double down on distinctive software program instruments, concepts like {hardware} keys, MagSafe-style wi-fi charging, or different smaller options that usually make the distinction between mid- and flagship-tier handsets.

These options could make a tangible distinction to the on a regular basis person expertise, and shoppers would possibly really feel that they’re getting extra bang for a slight worth enhance versus a number of extra gigabytes of RAM (and even the identical quantity as final 12 months). In any case, these choices might permit telephones to distinguish themselves from those who take the extra apparent route of merely passing on the ballooning value of RAM.

In the event you have been designing a telephone in 2026, how would you deal with the RAM disaster? 42 votes

Suck up the worth hike/move on the fee

45%

Ship telephones with much less RAM on the identical worth

12%

Scarified RAM for different enhancements

31%

One thing else (see the feedback)

12%

Can you actually skrimp on RAM within the AI age?

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That’s advantageous on a telephone with 12GB or 16GB to go round, however underneath tighter constraints like 8GB, it's a must to contemplate whether or not AI options or app responsiveness ought to take priority. Given the blended reception to AI instruments, I don’t assume many shoppers can be all that bothered if some offline options take a bit of longer in addition up. Nonetheless, when you’re planning to launch the most effective AI-equipped telephone, having massive quantities of RAM is fairly non-negotiable lately.

There’s additionally a tangent right here that doesn’t get talked about a lot anymore: higher reminiscence administration. Smarter app eviction, extra aggressive background limits, and even perhaps resorting to that dreaded swap area might all assist stretch smaller RAM budgets additional. That received’t magically resolve the issue — AI fashions, particularly, are nonetheless voracious — however it could possibly be sufficient to easy over the expertise on telephones that may’t afford to throw 12GB or 16GB of RAM on the downside.

Even so, this successfully splits the market into two segments: the massive manufacturers that may take up RAM prices or move them on to shoppers as a way to maximize AI capabilities, and the smaller gamers that may’t.

The race for AI means the specs aren't useless but.

Whereas that is already true to some extent — Google and Samsung have two of the bigger AI ecosystems, regardless that Nano runs with fairly modest necessities — the hole might widen if there’s a divergence between telephones that may and may’t meet future {hardware} calls for. Likewise, the expertise could really feel very completely different between telephones with spare RAM to dedicate to AI and people with out.

Maybe this can be a good factor. AI isn’t universally beloved within the cell area (or anyplace, for that matter), and nudging some corporations to hunt out alternative routes to distinguish their merchandise could possibly be wholesome. Perhaps manufacturers that focus extra on battery life, pictures, or distinctive designs would possibly fare higher than AI-obsessed rivals — however I doubt many company methods would need to guess on that.

The disaster can’t final perpetually

<img class="e_jg" decoding="async" loading="lazy" sizes="(min-width: 64rem) 51.25rem, 80vw" title="Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra RAM use" srcset="https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Samsung-Galaxy-S25-Ultra-RAM-use.jpg 1920w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Samsung-Galaxy-S25-Ultra-RAM-use-64w-36h.jpg 64w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Samsung-Galaxy-S25-Ultra-RAM-use-1000w-563h.jpg 1000w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Samsung-Galaxy-S25-Ultra-RAM-use-1536w-864h.jpg 1536w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Samsung-Galaxy-S25-Ultra-RAM-use-675w-380h.jpg 675w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Samsung-Galaxy-S25-Ultra-RAM-use-300w-170h.jpg 300w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Samsung-Galaxy-S25-Ultra-RAM-use-1280w-720h.jpg 1280w, https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Samsung-Galaxy-S25-Ultra-RAM-use-840w-472h.jpg 840w" alt="Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra RAM use" src="https://www.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Samsung-Galaxy-S25-Ultra-RAM-use.jpg"/> Robert Triggs / Android Authority

All that being mentioned, smartphone designs take years, not months. Altering plans on the final minute to accommodate the explosive costs of RAM up to now few months is unlikely. There’s in all probability little or no the Samsung Galaxy S26 sequence can do about it, for instance, apart from to stump up the added value or transfer to a barely completely different RAM configuration. Altering a broader vary of options is off the desk.

Nonetheless, telephones launching within the second half of 2026 have had a bit extra time to weigh extra choices. There are optimistic expectations that the disaster will ease considerably by early 2027, wherein case ready it out is perhaps the most effective guess. That mentioned, the RAM crunch might simply persist past the following 12 months. If it does, it might pay to begin eager about learn how to construct extra thrilling telephones with out counting on copious quantities of RAM and storage to pad out spec sheets or energy next-gen AI fashions.

Clearly, I don’t assume costly RAM is an effective factor, not to mention a golden alternative for some manufacturers. It’s a headache that can make gadgets tougher to purchase and costlier, a minimum of briefly. Nonetheless, there could also be a sliver of alternative for manufacturers to shake up the established order over the following 12 months or two. We’ll simply have to attend and see if we find yourself with some nice buys out of it.

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