Qualcomm shares drop 7% as phone sales fall 20% and memory shortage bites; data centres the new bet

Qualcomm shares fell about 7% on Wednesday after the maker of Snapdragon chips gave a weak earnings forecast, as a shortage of memory chips weighs on smartphone sales, CNBC reported. On its earnings call the company said it is turning to AI data centres to make up the difference, The Verge reported.

The numbers

• Smartphone sales are down about 20% compared with 2025, according to The Verge's account of the call.
• Data centre revenue is forecast at about $650 million in the first quarter of 2027.
• Qualcomm expects that to reach $5 billion a year by the end of 2027 and $15 billion by 2029.
• It expects data centres eventually to make up about 30% of its business, through partnerships with companies including Amazon and Meta announced this year. AMD, by comparison, expects more than 80% of its revenue to come from data centres (AMD's results).

Why memory matters

Memory makers have switched much of their output to the high-bandwidth memory used in AI servers, which leaves less of the ordinary memory that phones need and pushes its price up. Phone makers either pay more and raise prices or cut orders, and fewer phones means fewer Snapdragon chips sold.

What it means for phone buyers in Pakistan

Many mid-range and flagship Android phones sold in Pakistan, from Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, Realme and others, run on Snapdragon chips, and their prices here move with the dollar and with component costs. Higher memory costs tend to show up first as:

1. Higher launch prices for new models, or the same price with less storage.
2. Fewer budget variants, with 8GB and 256GB versions harder to find at the old price.
3. Slower price cuts on last year's models.

Compare current prices on our mobile prices list, and before buying a phone from abroad, check the duty with the PTA mobile tax calculator.

What to watch

Samsung's Galaxy S27 series, expected early next year, will be the first big test of how much the memory squeeze pushes flagship prices up (what the S27 Ultra leak shows).