Smartphone Shipments Just Hit a New Low. Thanks, RAMageddon

If you’re holding on to your phone despite a wave of new, high-powered options, you’re not alone. Hitting the lowest mark since 2012, smartphone shipments worldwide continued a months-long skid, slumping 20% in the third quarter of 2026 due to the RAMageddon memory shortage, according to a new analysis by Counterpoint Research. Counterpoint said that the cost of DRAM and NAND — the two main memory chips used in smartphones, computers and data centers — continues to rise, forcing manufacturers to raise phone prices, which are up 20% overall this year. Memory costs more because there’s less of it to…