Global smartphone sales plunged 20% year-over-year in the third quarter, reaching the weakest Q3 demand since 2012. The collapse is driven by an ongoing memory component shortage that has sharply increased DRAM and NAND prices, pushing up manufacturing costs and prompting vendors to raise retail prices. Smartphone prices have risen roughly 20% in 2026, a jump large enough to suppress purchases and leave shipment volumes significantly below prior years.
Market structure shifted only modestly amid the downturn: the largest vendor holds about 23% of global shipments while a close second captures roughly 22%, that second company recording its strongest Q3 share on record. Analysts projecting near-term trends do not expect a clear recovery in the mobile market for the remainder of the year, leaving sales and inventory dynamics dependent on when memory supply and pricing normalize.
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Concerns about industry layoffs and a shrinking job market are leading software engineers to consider re-training. The discussion questions when a significant number of engineers will need to switch careers amid these changes. (news.ycombinator.com)
NetBSD is being considered as a potential operating system that remains free and open-source without incorporating artificial intelligence features. The project emphasizes traditional development methods over modern techniques like version control systems such as CVS. (theregister.com)
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