Degradation in 2026: Smartphones Will Become Slower and More Expensive 0 7

In the coming year, smartphones with 16 gigabytes of RAM will almost completely disappear from the market. This was stated by the well-known insider under the nickname yeux1122 on his blog on Naver.

The Korean specialist attributed the crisis in the smartphone market to the shortage of RAM modules due to high demand from the artificial intelligence (AI) industry. According to him, because of this, devices with 12 or 16 gigabytes of RAM will become more of a luxury than a necessity.

Insider yeux1122 predicted that models with 16 gigabytes of memory will almost vanish from the market — with the exception of some high-end versions of smartphones. Also, manufacturers will release gadgets with 12 gigabytes of RAM less frequently, with their numbers expected to decrease by about 40 percent. These devices will be replaced by smartphones with 6 or 8 gigabytes of memory.

According to the source, manufacturers could purchase memory modules in the same volume as before, but this would increase the cost of smartphones. However, most companies will not do this, and instead of raising prices, they will try to downgrade the specifications of gadgets. As a result, in 2026, there will be more slow, inexpensive phones with only 4 gigabytes of RAM.