Rising RAM costs and demand from AI infrastructure could prompt manufacturers to reduce memory in cheaper Android phones, putting pressure on on-device performance.
Android smartphones at the lower end of the market may soon ship with less memory than recent models, as manufacturers respond to rising component costs and tighter supply, according to Phonandroid.
The report says the sharp increase in RAM prices over the past year is forcing handset makers to adjust their specifications rather than pass the full cost on to buyers. That pressure is likely to affect the entry-level and mid-range segments first, where price sensitivity is highest and there is less room to absorb higher bills of materials. In practice, that could mean phones that once offered 16GB of RAM being replaced by 12GB variants, while models that previously shipped with 12GB may drop to 8GB. At the cheaper end, devices that had moved up to 8GB could settle at 6GB, and some 6GB phones may be cut back to 4GB.
According to the same report, the shift reflects a broader shortage of memory driven in part by demand from artificial intelligence infrastructure. That creates an awkward trade-off for phone makers, because AI features running on the device itself also depend on adequate RAM to work smoothly. The result is that manufacturers will have to rely more heavily on software optimisation if they want to avoid a noticeable fall in performance for users of the cheapest Android models.
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