The manufacturers promised them happy with “Ultra” phones up to the top of specs. The RAM crisis has other plans for them
Being an Ultra is not usually the best, unless you are a mobile phone. For years, manufacturers have been throwing darts at each other, launching models designed by and to demonstrate muscle. There was a manufacturer who threw the first stone, and the rest began to follow him. Today, with the component crisis that AI is causing, are in danger. The beginning of everything. The first “Ultra” mobile phone on the market was the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. The company did a fairly marketing exercise: 108 megapixel camera, 100x zoom… everything in a big way. Was it the best Galaxy to date? Yes. Was it a strategy to set a new industry standard through an even more striking surname? Also. China wakes up. China was quick to react to Samsung’s message. Xiaomi responded with the Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultraa phone that debuted 120W fast charging (absolute nonsense a few years ago), 120x zoom to surpass Samsung, and even a transparent finish to show off its hardware. It was the first Chinese mobile phone to fully enter the war: “we are going to put absolutely everything we can into a mobile phone, whether it is useful or not.” And from then on, the party began. Raised to the absurd. The war to launch increasingly powerful Ultra models is beginning to move away from its original objective. Samsung launched a first model with oversized specs, but with a certain commercial purpose. Manufacturers like Vivo launch phones like the 300Ultra They are sold directly in a kit that makes their price practically unattainable, and some of the direct rivals of Samsung and Apple surpass Western brands in price. Chinese manufacturers do not want to sell them, they want to continue demonstrating technological leadership. in check. As pointed out Ice Universethe flagship Ultra is in danger, and some of the big Chinese brands are considering pausing this product line. The Chinese Ultra is not born to sell in volume, and the Pro models or series number (Xiaomi 17simply) are those who are born to sell, even in China. The increase in costs of components such as internal memory or RAM makes launching Ultra models even more complicated, unless the manufacturer wants to raise the price to the absurd. Yes, but. Despite Ice’s predictions, it seems unlikely that the RAM crisis could completely knock down the Ultra models. Manufacturers have been betting for years on a strategy that allows them to reduce costs and continue advancing in their product line: launching exactly the same mobile year after year, but with some additional touches. This allows you to contain costs, recycle parts and reduce R&D spending, while maintaining memory configurations that cannot be reversed. Be that as it may, it seems inevitable that the RAM crisis will completely affect the mobile market, and that in 2027 we will see progress in dribs and drabs. In Xataka | The best mobile phones (2026), we have tested them and here are their analyzes