AI boom could wipe 230 million budget phones a year from the market

Counterpoint Research forecasts sub-$200 smartphone shipments will fall about 40% between 2025 and 2030, removing over 230 million devices a year. Rising memory and chipset costs and shrinking vendor interest in unprofitable entry-level lines are to blame.

• Sub-$200 smartphone shipments to drop 40% from 2025 to 2030
• More than 230 million devices a year lost from the market by 2030
• Memory prices quadrupled in a year, squeezing cheap components
• Mid-range will become the industry's main battleground by 2030