Oppo and Vivo, two of the world’s largest Android phone makers, have rejected the latest Samsung DRAM price increase, proposed for the third quarter of 2026, according to a report from Chinese outlet 36Kr. Rather than a done deal, this is a live standoff: Samsung has asked for the hike, and its two big Chinese customers have said no, with both firms reportedly no longer willing to absorb rising memory costs.
Samsung reportedly proposed raising DRAM contract prices by up to 20% for Q3 2026. That figure was first reported by TrendForce on July 3 as Samsung’s opening ask to customers. DRAM is the working memory (the RAM) inside your phone, so any sustained increase eventually shows up in what a given amount of RAM costs to build into a handset.
Why this Samsung DRAM price hike is the one that got refused
Here is what makes this fight notable: 20% is actually the smallest of Samsung’s recent asks, not the largest. DRAM average selling prices reportedly jumped around 90% quarter-over-quarter in Q1 2026, then an estimated 50 to 60% in Q2. So a 20% Q3 proposal is a deceleration, not an escalation, and it is still being turned down. Oppo and Vivo swallowed the two bigger increases; it is the comparatively smaller one that has broken their patience.
NAND flash, the memory that stores your apps, photos and files, is a separate but related pressure point: contract prices there are projected to climb 10 to 15% over the same window.
The real driver: AI is eating phone memory
The squeeze traces back to AI. Sustained demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and server DRAM from data-center customers building AI infrastructure is pulling manufacturing capacity away from the consumer-grade DRAM and NAND used in phones and laptops. Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron are all steering their fabs toward higher-margin HBM and server orders. Memory makers are reportedly planning to redirect roughly 11% of smartphone-memory production capacity toward data-center allocation. In plain terms, the chips that would have gone into your next phone are being reassigned to AI servers, and the phone brands are being asked to pay more for what is left.
A split among China’s big brands
Not everyone is pushing back. Xiaomi is not part of the rejection. As we covered in Xiaomi’s own shipment-target reversal earlier today, the company has just raised its 2026 shipment goal to 110 million units, a move it partly ties to hopes that memory prices stabilize later this year. So two of the same market’s biggest players are reading the identical memory crunch in opposite ways: Oppo and Vivo digging in against higher prices now, Xiaomi betting the pressure eases. Neither wager has paid off yet, and it is a genuine split in strategy rather than a settled question.
What it means for buyers
There is no consumer-friendly outcome hiding in here, whichever way it lands. If Samsung wins the standoff and the OEMs eventually accept higher DRAM costs, expect that to keep pushing phone and laptop prices upward through late 2026 and into 2027. If Oppo and Vivo hold firm, the relief may be an illusion: instead of higher list prices you could see tighter supply, or quieter configuration cuts, less RAM or storage at the same price point, so the phone that used to ship with 12GB now ships with 8GB for the same money. That is a real cost too, just one that is harder to spot on a spec sheet.
This remains an ongoing dispute, and the reporting comes from trade-press sourcing rather than on-record statements from Samsung, Oppo or Vivo, so treat the specifics as reported rather than company-confirmed.
Sources: 36Kr, TrendForce, SamMobile
