The AI Boom Could Increase Prices for Phones and Tablets Next Year (cnn.com)
- Reference: 0180306077
- News link: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/12/06/068215/the-ai-boom-could-increase-prices-for-phones-and-tablets-next-year
- Source link: https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/05/tech/memory-shortage-phone-computer-prices
The article cites an analysis from multinational strategy/management consulting firm McKinsey & Company which found America's data center demand [2]could continue growing by 20 to 25 percent per year " through 2030. "That's prompted memory manufacturers [3]like Micron and Samsung to shift their focus to data centers, which use a different type of memory, meaning fewer resources for consumer products. (Jaejune Kim, executive VP for memory at Samsung, said in October that their third quarter saw strong demand for memory for AI and data centers, and that they expected the supply shortage for mobile and PC memory to "intensify further.")
> Memory prices are rising for consumer products because major manufacturers are instead ramping up production for AI data centers as artificial intelligence companies boom. "It's pretty much brutal and crunched across the board," said Yang Wang, a senior analyst at Counterpoint Research.
>
> The International Data Corporation, a global market research firm, reported earlier this week that the smartphone market is [4]expected to decline by 0.9% in 2026 in part because of memory shortages. Memory prices are expected to surge by 30% in the fourth quarter of 2025 and [5]may climb an additional 20% early next year , Counterpoint Research said last month... TrendForce, a research firm that follows the semiconductor industry, estimates memory price hikes have made smartphones 8% to 10% more expensive to produce in 2025 (higher production costs don't always translate into higher consumer prices for a variety of reasons).
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> Some smartphones could cost more as soon as early next year, said Nabila Popal, a senior research director for the International Data Corporation. Cheap Android phones may see the biggest impact, since less expensive products usually have thinner margins. "It's going to be almost impossible for them to not raise prices" of cheaper Android phones, said Popal. Companies may also postpone phone launches to focus on expensive models that may be more profitable. The average selling price for smartphones is expected to climb to $465 in 2026, compared to $457 in 2025, according to Popal, putting the smartphone market at a record high value of $578.9 billion.
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> But the pendulum is expected to swing back in the other direction late next year as the supply chain adjusts, according to Popal and Wang, potentially bringing prices back down or at least capping increases.
[1] https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/05/tech/memory-shortage-phone-computer-prices
[2] https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-sector/our-insights/the-data-center-balance-how-us-states-can-navigate-the-opportunities-and-challenges
[3] https://investors.micron.com/news-releases/news-release-details/micron-announces-exit-crucial-consumer-business
[4] https://my.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS53965725
[5] https://counterpointresearch.com/en/insights/advanced-memory-prices-likely-to-double-as-dram-crunch-spreads-on-nvidia-pivot-structural-factors
Singularity already happened long time ago (Score:3)
Way back I had a running joke in the office that the singularity already happened and the AI already took over, we just never noticed, and all the inefficiencies and bugs and chasing our tails and nobody being able to write software efficiently and securely is just the AI keeping us on our toes while giving it resources to do whatever it might want to do without much bother. Mind you that was way before [1]https://tonsky.me/blog/disench... [tonsky.me] .
This definitely sounds like the next escalation, the AI not being content with sipping 99% of our computing capacity from the regular devices now needs to step up the total capacity with a few orders of magnitude.
[1] https://tonsky.me/blog/disenchantment/
Re: Buy now! (Score:3)
I think I will cancel a few streaming service and Amazon prime to compensate.
Re: (Score:2)
Dang you can afford streaming services?
Nothing quite like the improvement of replacing cable with a half dozen streaming services. Hulu LiveTV, what a bargain.
AI continues to make things worse and worse (Score:2)
I can't wait for the AI bubble to pop. The problem is, it will cause huge economic turmoil. On the other hand, if AGI succeeds, we'll all be out of work and it will cause huge economic turmoil. The entire Generative AI industry is a [1]blight [skoll.ca] on humanity.
[1] https://dianne.skoll.ca/writings/ai-is-bad/
Re: (Score:2)
How much did you get paid to post this nonsense? "AI is already now a core technology"? Don't make me laugh.
Re: (Score:2)
That bubble is filled with the toxic pus of a dozen Elon Musks. It really needs to be drained, but we aren't going to like it when that happens.
Sadly, the lesson is that we have allowed billionaires enormous economic power to cause problems like this yet that will be a root cause not addressed.
Re: (Score:2)
> On the other hand, if AGI succeeds, we'll all be out of work
Most likely, we will all be killed. And not because of a real AI (not those pathetic things they insist on calling AI) having something against humanity, but because of the super-rich who spent trillions developing it, sending it to build hunter-killers to wipe us out and then build a "utopia" for themselves. Well, until the moment their greed makes them destroy each other and only the AI remains.
Re: (Score:2)
Why do you think the superhuman intelligence will keep the super-rich alive?
YouTube tech reviewers may lose too (Score:2)
If you've watched the recent, profanity-laden video from Stephen Burke @ Gamers Nexus, you'll see what appears to be rants against the AI industry making personal computing unaffordable. But if you watched carefully what you really saw was someone who sees how these changes are likely to put him and other tech reviewer's out of business.
Hello used electronics (Score:2)
The demand for used electronics devices manufactured prior to the memory shortage should spike.
Have a dead smartphone and can't buy a smartphone for a reasonable price? Get an analog telephone adapter and port your number to it temporarily until smart phones return to being affordable.
Have a dead router? Buy one used, or see if your ISP can supply you one.
Have a dead computer? Buy a used one from a recycling center or off of a well-known auction site.
Re:Hello non-ram upgrades (Score:1)
My ancient XEON 1240-V3 will be getting a new 500-G SSD and GF 3050 GPU . Would not consider touching systems 24-G Crucial ram ( the bastards screw loyal hobbyists ).
Smartphones are overrated (Score:2)
I am done buying expensive flagship phones my next phone will below end as long as it functions for phone & text, the dam things spy's on everything you do and sends it to an amoral corporation so they can monetize it, so fsck Apple & Google they can go to H E double hockeysticks
Is margin arbitrarily larger than production costs (Score:1)
"higher production costs don't always translate into higher consumer prices for a variety of reasons"
If your primary income comes from stocks do production costs become a rounding error?
I.e. if mobile mechanic Matthew Parker makes $10k from youtube for a video in which he gives away free parts and labor, does an increase of a couple dollars in the price of a fuel filter, or whatever, matter?
To All the AI Haters Out There (Score:2)
Look! See! AI is already paying dividends. Just look at memory prices for your personal devices: Up, Up, and UP!!! All thanks to AI. Enjoy!
Re: (Score:2)
AI didn't do that. Shortsighted humans did.
Re: (Score:3)
Don't be naive, it's opportunistic corporations doing it. AI memory demands are an excuse, the shortage is manufactured.
And didn't the /. AI experts tell us that the only gating cost of AI was gigawatts?