What you need to know
- Samsung has reportedly asked suppliers to cut Q4 smartphone production by 20% to 30%.
- The cuts could drop Samsung’s total 2026 production from an expected 270 million units down closer to the early 200-million range.
- Skyrocketing smartphone DRAM prices are said to be squeezing margins, forcing Samsung to absorb higher manufacturing expenses or risk alienating buyers with steep price hikes.
Samsung looks set to do something counterintuitive in the smartphone market: make fewer phones rather than continue to make devices that barely make money.
A report from Korean outlet Money Today claims the company has asked suppliers to cut smartphone production by 20% to 30% in the fourth quarter, with rising memory costs making some models harder and harder to sell profitably.
Samsung was previously expected to produce around 270 million smartphones in 2026, but the latest cuts could push that total into the early 200-million range, the report said. Some seasonal slowdown is expected as buyers wait for the next Galaxy S series, but this year’s drop is said to be significantly more than expected.
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Based on the estimates from TrendForce that are cited in the report, Samsung produced around 240 million smartphones in 2025, which put it on par with Apple as the world’s biggest smartphone maker by volume. This demonstrates the scale that Samsung has been able to hold onto even as competition gets tougher.
The issue apparently has something to do with memory chips. Smartphone DRAM prices have skyrocketed, forcing manufacturers to either raise prices or take a hit on their margins.
That makes a dirty equation for Samsung. Raising phone prices too quickly risks cooling demand, while taking on the higher component costs leaves less cash on every device sold. Making millions more of them doesn’t resolve the problem of a phone making little or no profit.
For consumers it could mean fewer low-margin models, higher prices, and even more focus on Samsung’s premium Galaxy lineup.
Samsung has not officially confirmed the production cuts it is reportedly planning, so the next few months will show if the change is a temporary adjustment or a bigger shift in its smartphone strategy.
