Phone Prices Rise, So It Is Time to Rethink How You Choose a Smartphone

The smartphone market is becoming more expensive, and the usual checklist of RAM, chipset generation and headline specifications is no longer enough. Consumers are being urged to focus instead on how long a phone can remain comfortable, secure and stable to use.

The shift stems from a global shortage of memory chips. DRAM and NAND manufacturers are directing more production capacity toward chips for artificial-intelligence data centers because they offer much higher profit margins than memory for consumer devices. Smartphone memory supplies have consequently tightened while demand remains high, pushing costs into retail prices and forcing changes to specifications.

Waiting for prices to return to 2025 levels may not be realistic. New memory factories are expected to reach full production only in 2027, while IDC projects that pressure on memory prices could continue at least until 2028. Some industry executives have warned that the supply imbalance could last even longer.

Nabila Popal, IDC’s senior research director for worldwide consumer devices, said both manufacturers and consumers would need to adjust their strategies. “The era of ultra-cheap smartphones is over,” she said. The comment reflects a new cost structure in the industry, in which vendors that adapt their products while keeping customers willing to pay more could gain an advantage.

For buyers, a good phone should also be judged by the length of its operating-system and security-update support, its performance after one or two years, and its actual battery endurance. Physical durability and access to spare parts matter more as replacement devices become costlier. Battery capacity alone does not determine endurance, since chipset efficiency, the screen, software and usage patterns all affect power consumption.

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The era of ultra-cheap smartphones is over.