{
    "success": true,
    "data": {
        "id": 1633936,
        "msgid": "gloomy-predictions-for-chinese-made-affordable-god-spec-smartphones-1774425087",
        "date": "2026-03-25 14:03:00",
        "title": "Gloomy Predictions for Chinese-Made \"Affordable God-Spec\" Smartphones",
        "author": "Reza Wahyudi",
        "source": "KOMPAS",
        "tags": "",
        "topic": "Technology",
        "summary": "The era of affordable high-spec smartphones from China is facing a crisis due to soaring memory chip prices driven by the global AI boom and geopolitical tensions disrupting semiconductor supply chains. Major memory producers like Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron have shifted production to high-bandwidth memory for AI servers, causing DRAM prices to surge by 90-95% and NAND flash by 55-60% in a single quarter, as reported by TrendForce. This has led to uncertainty in pricing, with vendors like Xiaomi announcing potentially provisional high prices at events like MWC, signaling that budget phones may become rarer and less affordable.",
        "content": "<p>The golden era of affordable smartphones made in China, promising\n\u201chigh specifications at low prices\u201d, is now on the brink. For over a\ndecade dominating the global market, this business model relying on thin\nmargins is beginning to falter under immense pressure. The main trigger\nis the surge in memory chip prices due to the worldwide AI boom. This\nsituation is exacerbated by geopolitical tensions disrupting the global\nsemiconductor supply chain. If this trend continues, analysts predict\nthe smartphone industry will enter a new gloomy phase. Cheap phones will\nno longer be pocket-friendly, and they will gradually become scarcer in\nthe market. Signs of this crisis were already evident at the Mobile\nWorld Congress (MWC) held in Barcelona earlier in March. Several vendors\nshowcased their latest devices, but they appeared confused about setting\nfinal prices. Normally, retail prices would have been locked in well\nbefore the product announcement. Xiaomi, for instance, boldly announced\nits latest series phone at 999 euros (around Rp 19.5 million) on stage.\nHowever, analysts believe this price is very likely to be revised when\nthe product actually arrives in stores. This situation arises purely\nbecause the cost of the main component, namely memory chips, is\nfluctuating wildly. AI servers require high-speed memory known as\nhigh-bandwidth memory (HBM), which is typically paired with leading\ngraphics processing units (GPUs) like those from Nvidia. In response to\nthis high demand, major memory producers such as Samsung Electronics, SK\nHynix, and Micron Technology have swiftly redirected their efforts. They\nhave shifted much of their production capacity from conventional memory\n(for phones and PCs) to AI server-specific memory, which is more\nprofitable. The impact is fatal: the supply of memory for consumer\ndevices like smartphones and laptops has become extremely scarce.\nResearch firm TrendForce notes that DRAM (main memory\/RAM) prices have\nskyrocketed by 90-95% in just one quarter. Meanwhile, NAND flash\n(internal storage memory) prices have jumped 55-60% in the same\nperiod.<\/p>",
        "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/gloomy-predictions-for-chinese-made-affordable-god-spec-smartphones-1774425087",
        "image": ""
    },
    "sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
    "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}