The memory-IC market conditions are expected to improve in the second half of 2016, thanks to a pick-up in demand for Android and iPhone devices, according to industry sources.

Oversupply in the DRAM sector is expected to ease in the third quarter, while there could be a shortage of NAND flash chips, said the sources.

Upcoming rollouts of new Android and iPhone models have stimulated memory chip demand since the middle of June, the sources indicated. In addition, these new devices will come with larger on-board memory.

The upcoming iPhone series will reportedly feature a 256GB storage option and come with 3GB of RAM, for example, the sources said.

On the supply side, South Korea- and US-based memory chip vendors tend to be cautious about capacity expansion which will lead to more stability in the chip prices in the second half of 2016, the sources suggested.

In other news, Apple has reserved a significant portion of the world's available 2D NAND flash chips in 2016, and the vendor is likely to have its 2017 series of iPhone incorporate 3D NAND chips, according to industry sources.