Memory prices surge up to 700 yuan! Domestic smartphone price increases triggered by memory spike, while Apple cuts prices against the trend, is the market landscape changing?

This article is from Times Weekly, author: Xie Silin

Photo source: Times Weekly reporter photo

The wave of phone price hikes has arrived.

On the morning of March 18, Times Weekly reporters logged into vivo’s official store and found that vivo had adjusted the prices of several phone models, including the vivo X300 series, iQOO 15 series, iQOO Neo 11 series, and iQOO Z11 Turbo series, with increases ranging from 100 to 700 yuan.

The product with the largest price increase is the iQOO Neo 11 mid-range model, with the starting price rising from 2,599 yuan to 3,099 yuan, an increase of 500 yuan; the highest configuration 16G+1TB version of the same model increased from 3,799 yuan to 4,499 yuan, a rise of 700 yuan.

Just one day before vivo officially announced the price adjustment, media outlets discovered that Honor quietly raised the prices of certain Honor models by 300 yuan across all versions. Additionally, the Honor X70 and Honor 500 series were launched on Honor’s official store with refreshed versions, with prices also up by 300 yuan compared to the original versions.

Earlier, OPPO also raised its product prices on March 16: models like OPPO K13 Turbo and OPPO K13 Turbo Pro saw a 500 yuan increase compared to their initial sales; OnePlus 15 series and OnePlus Ace 6 series also increased by 500 yuan; OnePlus Ace 6T, Turbo 6, and Turbo 6V all saw a 400 yuan rise compared to their launch prices.

Furthermore, Xiaomi’s price hike may also be imminent. Xiaomi founder Lei Jun publicly responded to questions about whether Xiaomi phones would increase in price this year. He stated that due to high costs of memory chips, Xiaomi will try to offset these costs by improving internal efficiency, reducing the difficulty for consumers to accept higher prices.

The core reason behind the widespread price increases is generally believed to be the rising costs of memory. Since 2026, the global memory market has experienced rapid growth, with explosive increases in AI server demand occupying a large portion of phone memory capacity, leading to structural shortages of RAM and NAND Flash storage in phones, and prices soaring.

Memory accounts for a significant portion of manufacturing costs for phones. According to IDC, after this round of price hikes, the cost share of memory semiconductors in the BOM (Bill of Materials) for smartphones has increased from about 10% to over 20%, with mid- and low-end models approaching 30-40%.

Since profit margins on hardware are already limited, the surge in memory costs inevitably leads to higher retail prices. Industry insiders told Times Weekly that: “This round of price increases is not just a choice by individual brands but an inevitable trend across the entire industry.”

Android price hikes, Apple price cuts

In this wave of price increases, mid- and low-end models are more noticeably affected.

Whether it’s OPPO, vivo, or Honor, the models with price adjustments are mainly around 2,000 yuan. For example, vivo’s most notable increase is on the iQOO Neo 11, whose starting price was originally 2,599 yuan and has now jumped to 3,099 yuan.

In comparison, the vivo X300, priced between 4,000 and 6,000 yuan, maintains its starting price at 4,399 yuan, with only high-memory versions like 12G+512G, 16G+512G, and 16G+1TB seeing a slight increase of 100 yuan.

Regarding this situation, TrendForce analyst Huang Yuxuan explained to Times Weekly that entry-level or low-end phones typically have longer product life cycles, and component prices are usually at relatively low points. Their configurations are also optimized to match their price range.

“Now, with memory prices soaring, other components in entry-level or low-end phones have limited bargaining power, and their configurations are already quite streamlined. Therefore, it’s difficult to offset the large increase in memory prices by cutting costs on other components or lowering configurations,” Huang said.

In contrast, high-end and flagship models have more profit margin room and can adjust other components or slightly modify configurations to cope with rising storage costs.

Under these circumstances, many believe that budget phones costing around 1,000 yuan will become a thing of the past. While this judgment may be somewhat absolute, Huang also pointed out that smartphone brands will inevitably reduce their entry-level and low-end product lines that are already operating at a loss and difficult to price adjust, in order to maintain basic profitability. As a result, the market is expected to see an increase in market share for high-end models, with foldable screens, AI phones, and other high-priced products becoming key focus areas.

Manufacturers with advantages in the high-end market may further expand their lead.

While many domestic Android phone brands have announced price hikes, Apple’s response has been more subdued. On March 12, Apple quietly updated a new model on its official website—the iPhone 17e. This is the first new product launched by Apple since 2026 and is currently the lowest-priced model in its lineup.

Despite the rising costs of storage chips and general price increases among domestic phones in spring 2026, Apple’s pricing strategy was unexpected. The base 256GB version of the iPhone 17e is priced at 4,499 yuan, while the previous iPhone 16e 256GB version was priced at 5,499 yuan. This means that for the same storage capacity, the iPhone 17e is priced 1,000 yuan lower than the iPhone 16e. This reverse pricing strategy demonstrates Apple’s strong control over pricing.

Tianfeng International analyst Guo Minghao recently analyzed that in the second quarter of 2026, iPhone storage prices will further increase, which will impact iPhone margins. However, he expects Apple to leverage market changes for its own benefit: ensuring chip supply, absorbing costs, and capturing more market share on one hand, while compensating for losses through services on the other. Apple’s next-generation iPhone models are likely to avoid price increases as much as possible.

While domestic Android brands are collectively raising prices, if Apple can maintain stable memory supply and product prices through its supply chain advantages, the iPhone could become a more cost-effective choice, potentially shifting the market landscape.

Global smartphone production may decrease by 10% in 2026

It is foreseeable that the AI boom will continue, and the associated shortages and price hikes in storage will not end soon.

Research firm Counterpoint Research released a report last year indicating that the storage market has entered a “super bull market,” surpassing the highs of 2018. It predicts that storage prices will surge by 40-50% in Q4 2025 and another 40-50% in Q1 2026.

In early March, the firm updated its forecast, estimating that in Q2 2026, the prices of mobile-grade LPDDR4/5 will reach nearly three times the levels of Q3 2025, reflecting unprecedented supply tightness. Yang Wang, chief analyst at Counterpoint Research, believes that since expanding storage capacity takes several quarters to translate into actual output, the impact is expected to last until the second half of 2027.

During this process, as storage prices continue to rise, terminal prices for phones may further increase. Industry insiders told Times Weekly that in 2026, China’s mobile phone market might see multiple price increases within a year. “In the past, even when prices rose, it was usually a one-time adjustment or only for some high-end models. In 2026, both new and old models could see multiple price adjustments,” they said.

The continuous price increases will inevitably impact the overall market. The latest smartphone market outlook from Counterpoint Research projects that global smartphone shipments will decline by 12.4% year-over-year in 2026, marking the most severe annual contraction in history, with recovery not expected until late 2027.

Huang Yuxuan also believes that, in terms of overall volume, the global smartphone market still faces a decline. He estimates that due to soaring memory prices and sharply increased costs, global smartphone production in 2026 will decrease by at least 10%, down to approximately 1.135 billion units.