Rising mobile DRAM prices to constrain growth of memory content in smartphones, says TrendForce

A rally in mobile DRAM prices will hold back the growth of average per device memory content for smartphones in 2017, according to TrendForce. Average DRAM content in smartphones is forecast to reach 3.2GB per device in 2017, said TrendForce, which previously estimated 3.7GB.

TrendForce's revised outlook for 2017 average DRAM content in smartphones represents an increase of 33.4% compared to 2016.

"Smartphones’ average memory content was around 2.4GB in 2016, and its growth for this year was initially expected to be significantly larger due to LPDDR4 becoming the market mainstream," said TrendForce analyst Avril Wu. "However, the continuing rise in prices of mobile DRAM products is increasing the cost pressure on smartphone makers and constraining their efforts to raise memory specifications for their products."

Wu continued that smartphone vendors especially Android phone makers intend to increase the memory content of their new products because of performance and consumer preference.

Several high-end smartphones feature 4GB or even 6GB of mobile DRAM, which are already comparable to the specs of some mainstream notebooks, Wu identified.

Nevertheless, intensifying competition and spiking prices of mobile DRAM products will decelerate the growth of average per device memory content for smartphones in 2017, Wu said. Very few among the world's smartphone companies, such as Samsung and Apple, have the economies of scale to earn impressive profits. "The recent price increases in the mobile DRAM market have further added to the cost burdens of smartphone makers, thereby slowing the growth of the average memory content per device," Wu indicated.

In addition, TrendForce predicted that of the three new iPhone devices that will be released in 2017, the model with a 5.8-inch AMOLED display and the model with a 5.5-inch LCD display will both have 3GB of memory, while the 4.7-inch LCD model will carry 2GB. An iPhone that comes with 4GB of RAM is unlikely to arrive until 2018, according to TrendForce.

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