Asus may be done with smartphones and AI could be the reason why

Asus’ indefinite pause in smartphone releases comes amid an unprecedented memory chip shortage that is expected to hike smartphone prices. Several smartphone makers and OEMs have warned that constraints could persist for months, if not years, as the AI infrastructure race continues to hog supplies.

The price of RAM has quadrupled in the last couple of months, and manufacturers like Micron have shut down their consumer-facing brand, Crucial, to focus on the more profitable enterprise segment.

Additionally, the smartphone market has matured to the point that there isn’t much room for improvement year-to-year. This has, in turn, led to fewer people upgrading their phones. Aside from bigger players like Apple and Samsung, smartphone makers who look to serve markets outside the US are under immense competitive pressures from Chinese rivals such as Vivo, Xiaomi, and Huawei.

Asus was once known to be a major player in the Android device ecosystem. It has introduced several phones along with its flagship lineup of gaming rigs, tablets, foldable laptops, and more.

In terms of smartphones, Asus’ ROG Phone series was a gaming favourite as it came with the latest chips as well as active cooling, multiple USB-C ports, game controller accessories, blinking lights, and headphone jack. But they were also on the expensive side with the latest ROG Phone 9 Pro starting at $1,200. The model is currently not available in India.

Existing Asus smartphones should continue to receive updates, but the company’s support and update policy is known to be limited. For instance, the ROG Phone 9 Pro is only guaranteed two OS updates and five years of security patches while the latest Zenfone models are only eligible for two Android version updates and four years of security updates.

Recently, rumours had it that Asus will be entering the DRAM memory manufacturing business, with its first chips entering production as early as next year if memory prices don’t return to normal. But a machine-translated report by the Taiwanese publication CNA later ruled out any possibility of the PC maker entering the DRAM business. In a statement, Asus said that it has “no plans to invest in memory fabs.”

To those unfamiliar, DRAM – short for Dynamic Random Access Memory- is a type of memory that is used in everything from PCs to laptops to smartphones.