If you’re hoping that sub-$400 smartphone you had your eye on will keep that same price, prepared to be disappointed. Maybe.
According to research published by Omdia, memory costs for smartphones that cost less than $400 accounted for 59 percent of the bill-of-materials (BOM) cost, or the cost to make the phone. This was during the first quarter of 2026.
This compares unfavorably to the third quarter of 2025, when device memory accounted for 32 percent of the BOM cost.
On paper, this isn’t a good look. The ongoing memory shortage has led to higher prices, which in turn means that cheaper smartphones will take a bigger hit. Because they don’t cost as much as flagship smartphones, they can’t absorb that hit nearly as well.
This could lead to a decline in shipments of sub-$400 smartphones. According to Omdia, this could be as much as a 22-percent decline compared to last year.
As a result, smartphone makers could pivot to focus more on flagship smartphones or simply price their phones higher. That is why Omdia predicts shipments of smartphones priced over $500 will grow by 5.7 percent this year.
These are only predictions, so we don’t know what will actually happen until time passes. Still, it’s not hard to see where the wind is blowing right now.
Google is rumored to increase the starting prices for its upcoming Pixel 11 phones, while Samsung has already issued price increases for a wide swath of its products. Even Apple might succumb to the pressure and increase the prices of its next iPhone Pro models.
At this point, you are better off just buying last year’s flagships and calling it a day.
Leave a Reply