The memory card slot will return to smartphones due to the crisis in the market.
To save costs, smartphone manufacturers will reduce the memory capacity of devices and add a slot for memory cards. This was stated by a well-known insider under the nickname Digital Chat Station in his blog on Weibo.
According to the specialist, in 2026, smartphone manufacturers worldwide will struggle with rising component prices for gadgets and the crisis. Cheap devices and mid-range gadgets are particularly vulnerable to price increases for memory and other parts. To save costs and avoid raising prices, manufacturers will downgrade some specifications of smartphones.
Thus, among mid-range and high-end devices, options with 8 gigabytes of RAM and 256 gigabytes of internal storage will become widespread. The number of devices with 12 or 16 gigabytes of memory will decrease. The memory card slot will also return — the specialist called this feature an inexpensive way to allow users to expand the memory of their gadgets.
It seems that inexpensive devices will more often have a plastic body or frame. Many new models will also feature a fingerprint sensor located on the back panel. Currently, fingerprint scanners are more commonly embedded under the front panel or on the side button.
