India's smartphone sales slump 10% — is AI datacenter demand to blame?
india's smartphone shipments fell 10% in q2 as chipmakers shift capacity to ai datacenters, driving up prices and forcing budget brands out of key markets.
a supply chain shift driven by ai hardware demand caused india's smartphone market to contract 10% in q2, as chipmakers allocated more production capacity to high-bandwidth memory for datacenters, reducing supply and raising costs for standard mobile memory. the price hike hit the budget segment hardest, with shipments under $150 plummeting 45% and chinese brands losing market share, while samsung grew 2% and apple remained stable. analysts warn this imbalance will extend phone replacement cycles to four years and force budget-focused brands to abandon regions like europe and north america to preserve margins.