India’s Smartphone Shipments Drop 10% as AI Memory Demand Raises Handset Costs

Counterpoint Research says the April to June decline was India’s steepest June-quarter contraction in six years, with pressure concentrated in lower-priced phones.

India’s smartphone market contracted sharply in the April to June quarter as higher memory prices raised handset costs in a market where most buyers are highly price sensitive.

Smartphone shipments fell 10% year over year in the quarter, Counterpoint Research told TechCrunch. The firm described it as India’s steepest June-quarter shipment decline in six years. By comparison, smartphone shipments in China declined 2% during the same period.

The pressure stems from a tighter memory supply chain. Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron have been directing manufacturing capacity toward high-bandwidth memory used in AI accelerators, TechCrunch reported. Those chips command higher returns per wafer than the conventional RAM and storage components used in smartphones and laptops, reducing available capacity for consumer electronics and increasing costs.

India is particularly exposed because roughly 60% of its smartphone market sits below ₹20,000, or about $210, according to Counterpoint vice president of research Tarun Pathak. Higher memory costs have had the largest effect on prices in that segment, he told TechCrunch.