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Smartphones cost poorest Africans 76% of monthly income
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Memory prices soar after doubling in six months
Rising memory and chipset costs driven by the global expansion of artificial intelligence infrastructure are threatening efforts to bring smartphones within the reach of billions of people in low and middle income countries, the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) has warned.
The industry body said a smartphone priced at $20 could previously have made internet enabled devices affordable for about 2.2 billion people living within mobile broadband coverage, but escalating memory costs are now putting that price point further out of reach.
The warning was contained in the GSMA’s State of Mobile Internet Connectivity Report 2026, released recently, which examined the pace of mobile internet adoption and the barriers preventing billions of people from getting online.
According to the report, handset affordability remains the biggest obstacle to mobile internet adoption across surveyed low and middle income countries, even as mobile broadband networks have expanded significantly.
The GSMA said 3.1 billion people globally live within the footprint of a mobile broadband network but do not use mobile internet, a gap it described as the “usage gap”. The majority of people in this group still do not own an internet enabled device.
The affordability challenge is particularly pronounced in sub Saharan Africa, where the report found that an entry level internet enabled handset cost the poorest 20 percent of the population the equivalent of 76 percent of their average monthly income by the end of 2025.
Globally, the equivalent cost for the poorest 20 percent of people in low and middle income countries stood at 44 percent of average monthly income.
The GSMA said the situation could worsen as the cost of memory used in smartphones continues to rise, with the increase being linked to strong global demand from AI infrastructure and data centres.
Its analysis, based on data from Counterpoint Research, showed that memory prices more than doubled between the third quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026 before rising by a further 80 to 90 percent in the second quarter.
The increase is already feeding into the smartphone market, particularly at the lower end, where manufacturers have less room to absorb higher component costs.
The GSMA said global smartphone shipments are expected to record their largest annual decline on record, driven largely by a collapse in the sub-$100 handset segment, with emerging markets expected to bear much of the impact.
The pressure on cheaper devices could undermine efforts to close the mobile usage gap at a time when governments and businesses are increasingly deploying digital and AI enabled services across sectors including financial services, healthcare, education and public services.
Vivek Badrinath, director general of the GSMA, said the benefits of artificial intelligence would remain limited for people who could not afford the devices needed to access digital services.
“AI is meaningless if people cannot get online in the first place,” Badrinath said, adding that protecting the affordability of entry level smartphones was necessary to prevent billions of people from being excluded from the next generation of digital services.
The GSMA is calling on memory and chipset manufacturers to increase the availability of affordable components for entry level smartphones and engage with mobile operators, device manufacturers, policymakers and multilateral financial institutions on ways to reduce the cost of devices.
It is also urging stakeholders to consider measures around production, distribution, taxation and device reuse to ease affordability pressures.
The report noted that until recently, lowering the price of entry level smartphones to $30 could have made devices affordable for almost 1.6 billion people, while a $20 price point could have extended affordability to about 2.2 billion people living within mobile broadband coverage.
However, the GSMA warned that rising memory costs are making those price points increasingly difficult to achieve despite efforts by operators and manufacturers to expand access to affordable handsets.
The affordability challenge comes as mobile internet adoption continues to grow, although at a slower pace. The GSMA said 4.8 billion people now use mobile internet on their own devices, while about 160 million people came online in 2025, down from 190 million in 2024.
Beyond device costs, the report identified digital skills, literacy, safety and security concerns, as well as the availability of relevant content and services, as other barriers to mobile internet adoption.
The GSMA estimates that closing the global mobile usage gap could generate $3.5 trillion in additional economic output between 2023 and 2030, with more than 90 percent of the projected gains accruing to low and middle income countries.
The association therefore warned that rising smartphone costs could have implications beyond access to the internet, potentially limiting the ability of low income populations in emerging economies to participate in the wider digital economy and benefit from new AI enabled services.
