Your next smartphone may cost more amid another semiconductor chip shortage
Global News
Consumers could wind up paying more for a variety of devices, including smartphones and other electronics, amid a global shortage of semiconductor memory chips.
Consumers could wind up paying more for a variety of devices, including smartphones and other electronics, as a surge in demand from artificial intelligence and data centres sparks a global shortage of crucial semiconductor memory chips.
Memory chips are tiny electronic devices used to store information in a wide variety of applications, from smartphones and automobiles to robotics and scientific research, but with such high demand and rising prices for these chips, companies like Apple say they are “constrained.”
“We’re in a supply-chase mode to meet the very high levels of customer demand. We are currently constrained, and at this point, it’s difficult to predict when supply and demand will balance,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an earnings call with investors and analysts last week.
The cost of these chips is skyrocketing, in part, because demand from innovations in AI is outpacing the speed to build the necessary chips and other technology, and those higher costs could get passed on to consumers.
According to a report from Counterpoint Research released Thursday, memory prices have soared as much as 90 per cent so far this year compared with the last three months of 2025. Counterpoint researchers said in the report that this marks “an unprecedented and record-breaking surge.”
Researchers also said global shipments of advanced smartphone chips are expected to decline seven per cent in 2026, partly because of rising costs.
“You get both happening at the same time, and companies are trying to increase production as fast as they can. It’s just a moment in time and it’s difficult to keep up.
“It hasn’t hit the smartphone market to the same degree — although it may drive up the cost of smartphones going forward.”
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