• Smartphone OEMs are increasingly migrating to LPDDR5 DRAM and UFS 3.x and UFS 4.x NAND. LPDDR5 had a share of more than 56% in smartphone SoC shipments in 2025.
• LPDDR4 will accelerate the migration to 5G SoCs, as 4G SoCs is dependent on legacy DRAM, whereas LPDDR5 has a share of more than 82% in 5G SoCs and is going to increase further.
• Among the SoC vendors, MediaTek and UNISOC will be highly impacted as their shipments consist of a larger share of 4G SoCs and are dependent on legacy DRAMs.
• The market will likely improve from 2028, with most of the entry-level 5G SoCs migrating to LPDDR5, and 4G SoC shipments declining further.

Global smartphone SoC shipments are likely to decline by 10% YoY in 2026 as the smartphone market is going through a DRAM crisis, according to the  Counterpoint Research Smartphone SoC Shipments Forecast by Vendor. DRAM players are increasingly prioritizing HBM and server DRAM to meet the demand from data centers, reducing capacity for consumer devices, including smartphones. These players are phasing-out legacy DRAM (LPDDR4) and are migrating to advanced DRAM (LPDDR5), thus further impacting the budget segment, and increasing the device BoM.

Similarly, smartphone OEMs will also transition their storage interface from eMMC and UFS 2.x to UFS 3.x and higher, as LPDDR4 is largely paired with eMMC and UFS 2.x, whereas the transition to LPDDR5 will increase adoption of UFS 3.x and UFS 4.x. UFS 3.x adoption is increasing in the mid-tier segment, whereas the entry segment still relies on eMMC and UFS 2.x. Meanwhile, the premium segment is using UFS 4.x standards. UFS 3.x has a shipment penetration share of 22% in 2025, whereas UFS 4.x has a penetration share of 18%.

Smartphone SoC Shipments by Memory Interface 

Source: Counterpoint Research Global Smartphone SoC Shipments Tracker, Q4 2025

The shortage of LPDDR4 memory is creating a "structural reset" in the smartphone market, with the 4G and entry-level 5G SoC segments facing the brunt of the impact. The sub-$150 segment is the worst hit, as memory costs now account for an outsized share of the BoM for this price segment, forcing OEMs to restrict their shipments in the segment and increase device prices.