AI-driven chip shortage could mean your next smartphone or laptop will have less RAM
Reducing memory capacity may be the next step to cope with chip shortage
by Shawn Knight · TechSpotServing tech enthusiasts for over 25 years.
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Facepalm: Next year's batch of flagship smartphones could ship with less memory than devices currently on sale. Worse yet, you may be asked to pay just as much – if not more – for a phone with less RAM than the one you're using now, and it's all thanks to AI.
The ongoing global memory shortage has been well documented. The response from most manufacturers thus far has been to simply raise prices but what do you do when that becomes untenable? According to South Korean tech leaker Lanzuk, the next step may involve dialing back memory capacity.
The leaker believes we're not far from a reality in which production of smartphones with 12GB of memory dips significantly and lower-end handsets with 4GB of RAM scale up to fill the void. High-end models with 16B of memory could become scarce, and variants that do stick around are almost certainly going to get a price bump.
It's not just smartphones that could see memory specs adjusted to help deal with the shortage. Although TrendForce notes that while entry-level laptops with 8GB of RAM will be difficult to reduce further in the short term due to operating system limitations and processor pairing needs, shipments in the mid-range are increasingly shifting toward 8GB as the norm rather than the exception. In the high-end segment, expect to see models favor 16GB of memory instead of 32GB or even 64GB.
Memory prices have skyrocketed in response to the ongoing shortage, and the hikes have already started trickling down to consumer products.
DDR5 memory kits, for example, have been hit especially hard as of late. When I built my latest PC during the holidays in 2023, I paid under $150 for a 48GB kit of Patriot Viper Elite DDR5-6000. Today, a comparable kit will set you back closer to $450.
Given the current market, it'd probably be best to hold off on purchasing a new phone, laptop, or computer memory until supply stabilizes and prices come back down from the stratosphere.
Image credit: Remy