> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.metatalks.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Memory can be nearly 60% of a $400 phone's parts cost, and small makers are redesigning around the shortage
- URL: https://www.metatalks.ai/memory-nearly-60-percent-of-400-phone-parts-cost-small-makers-redesign-around-shortage/
- Published: 2026-09-17T12:17:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-17T12:16:59.000Z
- Author: Al
- Tags: News, Semiconductors, #newswire

**Memory makers are serving AI data centers first, so for smaller brands the hard part is now getting chips at all.**

Fairphone chief executive Raymond van Eck [told Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/smaller-phone-laptop-makers-dig-years-memory-scarcity-2026-09-16/?ref=metatalks.ai) that memory can account for close to 60% of the parts cost of a phone selling for about $400\. Without an allocation from suppliers, he said, manufacturers cannot keep producing. Budget phones and laptops are especially exposed, since memory takes a bigger slice of their component costs.

In a [post on its supply problems](https://frame.work/blog/updates-on-memory-pricing-and-navigating-the-volatile-memory-market?ref=metatalks.ai), US laptop maker Framework says the AI build-out is driving up memory demand. Suppliers favor higher-margin server memory, and expanding production takes years.

To keep making phones, Jolla maintains two motherboard designs. One fits a combined memory-and-storage package; the other uses separate chips, letting the company build with whichever parts it can source. It also stress-tests a sample from each delivery batch to catch used chips passed off as new. The price of its combined package has held since peaking at the end of March, but chief executive Sami Pienimäki expects supply to return to normal only from 2028.

Unable to finance a stockpile, Framework commits early to memory purchases it cannot cancel, while price, quantity and delivery schedule are still unsettled. Buyers of its DIY Edition laptops can fit compatible memory of their own, including modules taken from older machines.

In July, Framework nearly doubled what it charged for the 32GB and 64GB memory options on the Laptop 13 Pro. In September, a limited batch of cheaper modules let it lower prices for eligible pre-orders and refund the difference on orders already shipped. Fairphone has not raised its prices at all, while Jolla now charges extra for a memory upgrade.