Jakarta Mobile Phone Shops See Fewer Buyers as Traders Struggle

The Indonesian smartphone market has entered 2026 facing increasingly expensive device prices due to a global chip shortage. Retail mobile phone traders in electronics shopping centres across Jakarta have reported a decline in sales over the past year. According to traders on the ground, overall mobile phone sales in 2025 were down compared to the figures achieved in 2024. The decline has been described as sharp, with 2025 proving to be a much tougher year for business owners than the previous year, resulting in slimmer profit margins. This pressure on the retail market did not appear suddenly at the start of the new year. Traders revealed that phone prices had actually started creeping up since the end of last year. ‘Since last year, phone prices have already started to rise,’ said a mobile phone trader at Blok M Plaza. He noted that this phenomenon was visible across major brands such as Oppo and Vivo, which had already increased their selling prices before December. Mobile phone traders also admitted they had no choice but to follow the trend of rising prices. These local retail price increases are a direct consequence of global supply chain turmoil. The International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates that smartphone prices will surge this year due to a shortage of Random Access Memory (RAM), as major manufacturers shift their focus towards artificial intelligence (AI).