Indian smartphone makers may face pressure as rising RAM prices squeeze volumes and push up handset costs, brokerage CLSA said. Shipments fell about 25% in January as memory prices surged since August 2025 amid strong AI demand. The spike has raised device prices and lifted average selling prices by about 8% since September.

Indian smartphone makers are likely to face a challenging period as global memory or RAM prices surge, squeezing volumes and pushing up average selling prices, a new report has said.

Brokerage CLSA said in a report that Indian smartphone shipments remained under pressure on a YoY and sequential basis in January, with volumes falling about 25 per cent, due to a sharp rise in RAM prices that began in August 2025.

NDTV Profit has earlier reported that RAM prices have tripled since last year amid unprecedented demand from large artificial intelligence (AI) players, which has diverted supply away from the retail market.

The spike in RAM prices has translated into higher device prices and availability concerns, with industry sources pointing to an 8 per cent increase in average selling prices since September.