India's sub-$100 phone shipments plunge 59% after memory cost rise
If you've been looking for a super-budget smartphone in India, you're not imagining it: they're getting really hard to find.
Phones under $100 saw shipments crash by 59% in early 2026, mostly because rising memory costs made them too expensive to produce.
This segment's share dropped from 18% to just 8%, and even the overall smartphone market shrank a bit, down 4.1% with only 31 million units shipped.
India mid and premium segments expand
With fewer cheap options around, buyers are being nudged toward mid-range and premium models: phones between $100 and $200 grew by 10%, and those in the $400 to $600 range jumped by nearly one-third.
Vivo and Samsung led the pack, while OPPO was the fastest climber.
Offline retail stores grabbed a big chunk of sales (62%), as online channels lost ground.
But heads up: IDC warns that prices could go up even more soon due to memory shortages and rupee drops, so affordable phones might get even scarcer.