On April 17, 2026, South Korean media outlet The Elec reported that Samsung Electronics has officially stopped accepting new orders for LPDDR4 and LPDDR4X. This marks the formal entry of these two mainstream memory products—which have been in mass production for over a decade—into the end-of-life phase. Since their large-scale production commenced in 2017, LPDDR4 and LPDDR4X have become standard features in consumer electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops, largely due to their low voltage and power consumption benefits.

Samsung intends to continue production until the end of 2026 to fulfill existing orders. Thereafter, in the first quarter of 2027, it will fully transition its production lines to LPDDR5, LPDDR5X mobile DRAM, and HBM high-bandwidth memory. The decision to halt production is primarily driven by the higher profit margins associated with HBM and DDR5 products, as well as a surge in demand for advanced memory solutions amid the AI boom.

As a result, spot prices for LPDDR4/4X have become increasingly volatile. For instance, Samsung's LPDDR4X memory quotes soared from $6 per unit in March 2025 to $28.5 per unit in January 2026. Additionally, Samsung plans to cease production of 2D NAND flash memory on Line 12 at its Hwaseong plant, repurposing it as a dedicated facility for 1c DRAM.

Domestic Chinese memory chip manufacturers may capitalize on market opportunities to fill the void in the mid-to-low-end memory market left by Samsung's withdrawal.