Will Mobile DRAM Prices Also Skyrocket In Just Three Months?

General news News Tech Tech News 05/05/2026

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TECH NEWS – Long-term agreements are pushing prices sharply upward, even when the data is calculated for just a single gigabyte.

Pricing in the mobile DRAM market shows no sign of slowing down, with the industry as a whole expected to see roughly 100% quarter-over-quarter price growth in the second quarter of 2026. This builds on the 58-63% quarterly increase seen for LPDDR5X in the first quarter of 2026. A few days ago, SemiAnalysis reported that LPDDR5 contract prices had recently been hovering around $10/GB after tripling since the first quarter of 2025. The firm also expected this upward price trend to continue into 2027. Although DRAM prices for the second quarter of 2026 have not yet been finalized, TrendForce expects mobile DRAM prices to rise by 93-98% quarter-over-quarter.

Assuming a base price of $10/GB, the price of a typical LPDDR5 module is expected to reach between $19.3 and $19.8/GB in the second quarter of 2026. Another report claims that memory manufacturers are currently signing long-term agreements, or LTAs, with a contract price ceiling of roughly $1,350 and a price floor of roughly $500 per 64 GB of DRAM. That translates to a maximum price of $21/GB and a minimum price of $7.8/GB.

TrendForce expects mobile DRAM 2Q26 pricing growth of +93-98% QoQ

*For reference, 1Q26 LPDDR5X pricing rose 58-63% QoQ.

– Jukan (@jukan05) May 4, 2026

SIG Semi-Distro channel check notes ( $INTC, $SNDK, $MRVL etc): pic.twitter.com/gSygyuKFA4

– Sean (@Sean14978416) May 3, 2026

The good news is that the relative spread of LTAs limits the potential for further price increases. Assuming the figures above are accurate, LTAs leave only about 8.8% room for additional price growth, given the interpolated second-quarter cost of LPDDR5 modules at $19.3/GB and the roughly $21/GB upper price limit set by those agreements.

What does all of this mean for us? Smartphones may become more expensive. That is one effect, while another is that 8 GB of RAM may become standard in many phones because larger modules will cost far more. Manufacturers are likely to pass those costs on to buyers, especially those who are not looking for an entry-level device but a high-end handset, particularly if they do not upgrade every year.

Source: WCCFTech

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