Xiaomi's smartphone production slumps by almost 40%, Apple iPhone 17 gains ground

Since fall 2025, prices for RAM and NAND flash memory have risen dramatically – 16 GB DDR5 now costs consumers around $200, while the same RAM stick was still being offered for $37 last year. However, the immense demand for RAM and NAND from AI giants such as OpenAI is not only increasing costs for consumers, but also for manufacturers of products such as desktop PCs, laptops and smartphones.

An analysis by TrendForce shows how the crisis affected various smartphone manufacturers in the first quarter of 2026. In total, only 284 million smartphones were manufactured in the first quarter, 1.7% fewer than in the same quarter of the previous year. According to TrendForce, the DRAM crisis is only having a delayed effect, as smartphone manufacturers still have DRAM inventories from the previous year and fears of further price increases have boosted demand. TrendForce expects production to fall by 16.2 percent to 1.051 billion units over the year as a whole.

However, the data from the first quarter already shows that manufacturers of cheaper smartphones are likely to be hit harder. Xiaomi produced 38 percent fewer smartphones than in the same period last year, while Vivo's production volume was reduced by 8 percent. Manufacturers with higher average selling prices, on the other hand, are in a better position – Samsung was able to produce 2% more smartphones than in the previous year, while Apple's production volume even increased by 20% due to the popularity of the iPhone 17 series.