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While the AI bubble burst seems to be closer since OpenAI's Sora shut down on April 16, demand for components hasn't slowed down. Countless companies snapped up crucial computer components such as RAM, which inflated prices for countless gadgets — not even the Raspberry Pi was safe from the fallout. But now Samsung might unintentionally pour salt in the wound with a potential production halt of one of its more budget-friendly RAM chips.
Samsung plans to stop producing LPDDR4 memory modules by the end of 2026, according to South Korean outlet TheElec (via Notebookcheck). The company has stopped accepting orders for new LPDDR4 modules, as well as its more energy-efficient LPDDR4X. Samsung has been making these memory chips for close to a decade now, and it is reportedly pulling the plug to ramp up production of the more powerful LPDDR5 and LPDDR5X memory modules. LPDDR4 production lines will be retrofitted to churn out these new bits of RAM.
While Samsung hasn't explained the underpinning logic of their decisions, several theories have emerged. One train of thought is that Samsung ended LPDDR4 RAM production because LPDDR5 is more profitable, while others believe that the recent ratification of the LPDDR6 RAM chip influenced this decision. Regardless of the actual reasons, this development is yet another indication that the AI-fueled RAM demand isn't going to stop hurting consumers anytime soon.
Faster phones, but at what cost?
Companies such as Qualcomm and MediaTek place these memory modules into their lower-end products to keep costs down, but since that will no longer be an option, they will have fewer savings to pass on to customers.
Since LPDDR5 RAM is more expensive than LPDDR4, we can expect a jump in some phone's prices. Let's say you buy a Xiaomi Redmi A7 Pro because it's a solid budget phone. The next year you recommend this smartphone to a friend, they tell you that it's actually more expensive than you claimed. In this LPDDR4 scarcity scenario, that could be more than just inflation; Xiaomi could have started building the phone with LPDDR5X RAM modules because there were no more LPDDR4X chips. And since the components were more expensive to obtain, the company had to increase the phones' price.
But this hypothetical scenario is not all bad. Phones will run faster with LPDDR5 RAM, but that's a cold comfort for everyone who wants to buy a budget or mid-range phone. These are the customers who are willing to sacrifice processing power to save a few hundred bucks — it's literally why the budget phone market exists in the first place. Samsung's emphasis on the LPDDR5 will make phones that were once affordable that much harder to buy.
Other companies have their eyes on the LPDDR4 market
History has taught us that if a company refuses to make a product customers want, another will step up to the plate and fill that void. And while few companies manufacture RAM, Samsung hasn't exactly cornered the budget LPDDR market: SK Hynix's share is estimated around 26%, with Micron being a big third player.
And now, according to ETNews, Chinese companies Gigadevice and Changxin Memory Technology (CXMT) are joining forces to start selling their own LPDDR4 RAM chips, as well as DDR3 and DDR4 RAM. If this agreement goes according to plan, CXMT and Gigadevice might become relevant suppliers of LPDDR4 and LPDDR4X RAM, which would be a huge blow to Samsung but a major win for fans of budget smartphones.
Samsung has yet to confirm or deny the reports of its plans for LPDDR4 production, but this isn't the first time the company would stop making a particular breed of RAM. In 2025, Samsung announced it would cease manufacturing DDR4 by the end of the year, only to backpedal in order to comply with special "non-cancelable, non-returnable" contracts. If another NCNR contract rears its head and forces Samsung into uncanceling LPDDR4 production, it could keep budget phones slow but affordable ... for now, anyway.