Samsung Said to Hike DRAM and NAND Prices for Smartphone Makers

According to a report from Korea’s Sisa Journal, Samsung Electronics – specifically its Device Solutions (DS) arm – is preparing to raise the price tags on the DRAM and NAND memory it supplies to phone makers. The bump isn’t massive, but it’s noticeable: somewhere between 7% and 10%.

Chinese manufacturers are first in line. Negotiations with the likes of Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo have already begun, and they’re expected to feel the sting of the hike pretty soon. Samsung’s own handset division isn’t immune either; the DS and DX units operate independently, so the internal phone brand will also see the new rates.

Apple, however, might be a tougher nut to crack. Analysts point out that the iPhone giant gobbles up roughly twice as much NAND for its devices as Samsung does, and three times more than Xiaomi. That sheer volume gives Apple a lot of leverage, which is why Samsung is reportedly waiting until the fourth quarter – October to December – to bring the fruit‑fly‑to‑the‑table again.

Why the increase now? Samsung, along with rivals SK Hynix and Micron, has been raking in hefty profits from high‑margin memory products like HBM and server‑grade DRAM. Those lucrative lines have drawn fab capacity away from the lower‑margin, low‑power LPDDR chips that power most smartphones.

Market‑research firm Omdia says the price surge isn’t a flash‑in‑the‑pan event. DRAM and NAND costs have been climbing steeply since last year and are expected to stay elevated well into 2027, albeit at a slower pace. Below is a snapshot of what Omdia projects for the component cost of a typical 8 GB RAM / 256 GB storage combo and a more premium 12 GB / 512 GB setup.

*The last two rows are projected figures.

In short, phone makers are staring down a tougher pricing environment for the essential memory that powers their devices. Whether they can negotiate softer terms or will have to pass some of the cost onto consumers remains to be seen.