Prices for smartphones and personal computers will continue to rise in 2026 due to a shortage of memory chips caused by the artificial intelligence boom. This warning comes from key market players – Arm, Qualcomm, and Samsung, as reported by the Financial Times.
Arm CEO Rene Haas stated that the current memory market shortage is the most serious he has seen in at least two decades.
Samsung CEO Tae Moon Roh also described the shortage as unprecedented and emphasized that it will inevitably affect consumers.
Qualcomm CFO Akash Palihawadana said that the shortage of memory chips is "quite dramatic," and the cause is the deployment of data centers by "five or six companies with colossal capital expenditures."
Throughout 2025, companies like Google, Amazon, Meta, and OpenAI announced billion-dollar investments in building data centers to support the operation of artificial intelligence models and products.
As a result, memory manufacturers Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron have redirected their resources to meet the needs of these companies, as they bring in more money, while memory intended for consumer devices, particularly smartphones and laptops, has been pushed to the back burner. Micron has even decided to scale back its consumer brand Crucial.
Morgan Stanley believes that most manufacturers will significantly raise prices for their products in the first half of 2026. This could lead to a decline in sales of Android smartphones and Windows-based personal computers.
According to the analytical company International Data Corporation, the hardest hit will be Chinese manufacturers of budget smartphones.
Apple and Samsung are in a better position because they have long-term agreements that ensure the supply of components for up to two years in advance.
