If you’re holding on to your phone despite a wave of new, high-powered options, you’re not alone. Hitting the lowest mark since 2012, smartphone shipments worldwide continued a months-long skid, slumping 20% in the third quarter of 2026 due to the RAMageddon memory shortage, according to a new analysis by Counterpoint Research.

Counterpoint said that the cost of DRAM and NAND — the two main memory chips used in smartphones, computers and data centers — continues to rise, forcing manufacturers to raise phone prices, which are up 20% overall this year. Memory costs more because there’s less of it to go around, thanks to the massive AI infrastructure buildup and its voracious appetite for chips.

It was the second consecutive quarter to take “the full brunt of the memory crisis,” Shilpi Jain, a senior analyst at Counterpoint, said in a statement Monday.

Research firm Gartner has estimated that companies will spend $1.4 trillion on AI infrastructure this year and $2.6 trillion overall. More than 70% of global memory chip production will go toward AI investment, TrendForce said. Global fears about rising inflation for most products and services are also likely suppressing phone sales.

Some manufacturers fared all right during the third quarter, according to Counterpoint. Samsung’s market share was 23%, up from 19% in 2025, thanks in part to “robust initial demand” for the Galaxy Fold 8 . Apple’s third-quarter market share was 22%, the first time the company has surpassed 20% in that three-month period. But both companies saw a year-over-year decline in shipments.

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