The iPhone could benefit from the memory chip crisis in a major way: report – 9to5Mac

or new Bloomberg REPORT IDC data coverage offers a dire outlook for the smartphone market in 2026 due to the current memory chip crisis, but Apple and the iPhone could actually benefit in a major way.

Apple likely to increase iPhone market share in 2026 due to shrinking Android production

Vlad Savov writes in Bloomberg:

The global smartphone market will shrink by 12.9% in 2026 due to an unprecedented memory chip shortage, marking “a crisis like no other,” according to researcher IDC.

The new forecast, a dramatic downward revision from previous estimates, provides the latest accounting of the ongoing memory crisis that is affecting every corner of the electronics industry. The demand for advanced memory to power artificial intelligence tasks has depleted global supply by next year and now threatens the business model of many smartphone makers.

Savov explains that the memory crunch could create a big shift in the smartphone market, with low-cost Android models being hit much harder than the iPhone.

Why would Android be more affected? Because of the “already slim profit margins for many Android device brands.”

Basically, many Android manufacturers won’t be able to afford the higher DRAM and NAND costs in their budget smartphones, so it’s expected that fewer models will be produced overall.

After all, IDC predicts that 2026 will see 1.1 billion smartphones shipped worldwide, up from 1.26 billion in 2025.

However, the report adds: “Premium handsets, like most of Apple Inc.’s iPhone line, will weather the crisis better.” We’ve already seen reports that Apple plans to keep the price of the iPhone 18 mostly consistent.

So while Apple will have plenty of challenges of its own to contend with during the memory shortage, it’s poised to gain a larger share of the overall smartphone market this year as cheaper Android offerings become unaffordable.

Do you expect Apple to raise iPhone prices this year due to the memory crunch? Tell us in the comments.

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