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Is a 2025 Mobile Phone Price Hike Coming? Here's the Reason!
If you just opened a shopping app thinking about buying a new phone, did you find that your favorite models have become more expensive? You're not alone—starting in October 2025, major brands like iPhone, Samsung, Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, and Honor have collectively raised the prices of new phones, with increases ranging from $15 to $85. Even the cost-effective Redmi K90 series hasn't been spared, with the price difference for similar configurations widening by $28. What's causing this global mobile phone price surge?
The core reason: an "epic price increase" in memory chips!
DRAM RAM in mobile phones saw a year-on-year surge of 171.8% in the third quarter, and is expected to rise another 45%-50% in the fourth quarter! At the beginning of the year, 12GB LPDDR5X was only $33, but by the end of November, it had exceeded $70, more than doubling in price. It's important to understand that memory chips account for 10%-20% of the hardware cost of a mobile phone, directly increasing the overall cost by 8%-12%. Meanwhile, the net profit margins of most mainstream domestic brands are less than 10%, with some mid-to-low-end models even experiencing negative gross margins, making price increases an unavoidable choice.
The Culprit: The AI Industry "Steals" Production Capacity!
OpenAI has secured 40% of the global DRAM production capacity for its data centers. The storage requirements of one AI server are equivalent to eight ordinary servers. Seeing this, giants like Samsung and SK Hynix have shifted their production lines to more profitable AI-specific memory, reducing the production capacity of mature processes used in mobile phones. To make matters worse, Nvidia plans to replace server memory with LPDDR, commonly used in mobile phones, and is willing to pay a 50%-60% premium, making it impossible for mobile phone manufacturers to compete.
Future Warning: Price Increases Will Continue!
Memory chip production expansion will take 3-4 years. By 2026, AI and server applications will account for 66% of total DRAM production capacity, further tightening the supply of mobile phone storage. IDC predicts that the global average selling price of smartphones will rise to $465 by 2026, with mid-to-high-end models potentially seeing an additional increase of $70-115, while shipments will decline by 1.9%. Adding to the problem, the affordable LPDDR4 standard is being phased out of the market, meaning even entry-level phones will eventually have to use the more expensive LPDDR5.
This price increase is essentially a result of the supply chain restructuring driven by AI, leaving both manufacturers and consumers feeling helpless. Do you have plans to upgrade your phone soon? Do you think it's worthwhile to upgrade now or wait?