Mid-to-Low Price Range ($100-$249) – Solid as the core segment of the market

The $100-$249 price range has maintained the highest sales share. It remained stable at the 35%-39% level in 2025 and is showing a slight increase in share in early 2026, recording levels of 38%-40%. This can be interpreted as a result of some consumers who dropped out of the low-end segment being absorbed into this range.

Sales volume peaked in October 2025, marking the highest point of the analysis period, and has maintained a level of 36 million-37 million units from January to March 2026. While this segment was relatively less affected by memory supply shortages through the first quarter of 2026, it may be difficult to remain unaffected as the situation becomes more severe starting from the second quarter.

Mid-to-High Price Range ($250-$699) – Stable maintenance

The $250-$699 range was the most stable, maintaining a share of 20%-26%. After a slight peak in June 2025, it has remained stable without significantly declining through January-March 2026. This is because proportion of smartphone models in this price range that adopt LPDDR5 or higher DRAM, for which supply has been relatively good, are significantly higher than those in the mid-to-low price range.

DRAM Adoption Share by Smartphone Price Range
(Based on Cumulative Sales from January 2025 to March 2026)

 High and Premium (>$700) – Distinct seasonality amid increasing share

The premium segment, priced at over $700, is where seasonality is most pronounced. While the sales share dropped below 20% in August 2025, just before the launch of Apple’s new iPhone models, it peaked at 29% from September 2025 through the end of the year, when the new models were released. Demand for premium models is heavily influenced by the new product launch cycle, showing significant quarterly variations depending on the timing of new model releases by Apple and Samsung.

Another trend of this segment is the expansion of the sales share. In March 2026, it accounted for 26.9% of sales, a 4.5% point increase compared to the same month of the previous year. Due to the advancement of smartphone specifications and rising component prices, this price range is expected to continue to grow in the future.

Conclusion and Outlook

The shortage of memory supply is simultaneously pressuring both the sales volume and proportion of low-end smartphones in the global market, a trend that has accelerated since 2026. The sales share of low-end smartphones prices at $99 or less fell from 18%-19% in early 2025 to 12% by March 2026, while the sales units also decreased by about 40% during the same period.

In contrast, the premium segment priced at $700 or more shows a pattern of maintaining its overall share or slightly expanding. This suggests that the structural problem of memory supply priority being skewed toward high-value-added products is intensifying market polarization.

The memory supply shortage is expected to gradually ease starting from the end of 2027. With demand of HBM for AI servers remaining strong, the shift in supply to general-purpose memory for smartphones will inevitably remain limited for the time being. Meanwhile, supply constraints in the low-end segment are highly likely to persist through the second half of 2026 and into 2027.

More importantly, the impact of memory shortage may not be limited to the low-end segment. If supply conditions do not improve over time, the mid-to-low price range ($100-$249) is also likely to gradually fall under the influence of memory shortages. If the supply of memory specifications for mid-to-low price models tightens relative to demand, the sales share of this segment could also be pressured.

Consequently, as the memory shortage persists, the beneficiaries are expected to narrow to the high-end and premium segment, which possess competitiveness in prioritizing memory acquisition. The market share of premium brands such as Samsung and Apple is highly likely to expand structurally, which is expected to further accelerate the trend of sophistication and polarization in the smartphone market.