India’s budget smartphone market is seeing a rise in 4G phones as higher memory and component costs put pressure on smartphone prices.
Counterpoint Research, in a report published in July 2026, said shipments in the mass-market segment, covering smartphones priced below ₹15,000, fell 45 per cent year-on-year in the June quarter. Smartphone makers also expanded their 4G portfolios in this segment.
Overall smartphone shipments in India fell 10 per cent year-on-year in the April-June quarter, the biggest decline for a June quarter in six years. Counterpoint attributed the decline mainly to record-high memory prices, which pushed up smartphone prices and weakened consumer demand.
4G shipments rise
4G smartphone shipments increased 40 per cent quarter-on-quarter in Q2 2026, according to Counterpoint data. 4G phones accounted for 12 per cent of smartphones sold in the quarter, compared with 7 per cent in Q4 2025.
“The 4G smartphone market is witnessing growth in the entry and budget segments, with 4G smartphone shipments registering 40 per cent QoQ in Q2 2026,” Research Director Tarun Pathak, Counterpoint Research, told Moneycontrol.
Memory costs push up phone prices
Memory prices have increased sharply. Counterpoint report said smartphone memory prices had increased nearly four times since September 2025 and could rise further to five times in the coming months.
The rise in memory costs has also increased its share of the cost of components used to make a phone. Counterpoint said prices of DRAM and NAND, two types of memory used in smartphones, had pushed memory’s share of the bill of materials from below 20 per cent to more than 45 per cent in the sub ₹15,000 segment.
Almost every major smartphone maker implemented multiple price increases during 2026. The average smartphone price was around 15 per cent higher by the end of the second quarter, Counterpoint said.
“Since component prices are unlikely to normalise before next year, affordability will remain the industry’s biggest challenge,” Pathak was quoted as saying by Moneycontrol.
Why 4G is more attractive at the budget end
The price difference between 4G and 5G phones is also visible in their average selling prices.
Moneycontrol also reported that several smartphone makers were reintroducing or extending 4G models in the budget segment and using older-generation components, including LCDs and LPDDR4x memory, to contain costs.
IDC analyst Upasana Joshi told Moneycontrol: “Several brands responded by reintroducing or extending 4G models to defend their footing in the budget segment, pushing 4G’s share to 11.1 per cent in Q2’26, up from 5.8 per cent in Q1’26 and 9.2 per cent in Q2’25.”
Why 4G may not be a long-term shift
A separate Counterpoint Research report, also published in July earlier this year, looked at the longer-term impact of the memory shortage on smartphone chips.
It said the memory crisis would accelerate the adoption of 5G chips in mainstream smartphones priced below $300, with 5G penetration expected to exceed 50 per cent in 2026.
The report said memory manufacturers are phasing out LPDDR4, an older generation of low-power smartphone memory, as they move towards newer memory technologies such as LPDDR5 and high-bandwidth memory. Most 4G smartphone chips are configured around the older memory interface.
Moving these 4G chips to LPDDR5 would require a costly redesign, Counterpoint said. It expected smartphone chip makers to therefore phase out 4G chips over time and rely more on newer 5G chips based on LPDDR5.
This means the current rise in 4G phones in India is linked to pressure in the budget segment, while Counterpoint’s longer-term research still points towards greater 5G adoption.
