The industry-wide price increase trend may continue until 2028. Honor's Linlin interprets the new market changes.

Ask AI · How do manufacturers balance market share and profit pressure?

IT Home reported on March 26 that Lin Lin, head of the Smart Life Business Division of Honor China, expressed today that raw materials in the industry are almost all increasing in price, including memory, storage, graphics memory, processors CPU/SOC, etc.

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Lin Lin stated that all these price increases lead to some phenomena that were previously not seen. For example, products that have been on sale for a long time are not only not decreasing in price but are also increasing in price, because the procurement of raw materials, production, transportation, and sales of all products are ongoing. So even if it is an old product, the entire process is being renewed, and naturally, the costs and prices are also renewed, with those who use more storage experiencing larger price increases.

He also added that different manufacturers face different pressures; some manufacturers can afford to lose money madly this year to gain market share and penetration, while others had previously set prices that were extraordinarily high with huge gross margins, making them enviable. Even if costs rise sharply, they can still withstand it without losing money, just earning less; so this year, the biggest decision-makers need to see what the board of directors wants, to determine this year’s operational strategy: whether to focus on market share or to minimize losses.

Finally, regarding the core question of “Is the market going to be like this this year?”, Lin Lin frankly stated that the rise in storage prices and maintenance at high levels are expected to continue until the second half of 2027 or even into 2028. He believes that the only variable lies in the supply-demand balance in the 2C/Client market, and does not rule out the possibility of serious supply-demand imbalance (although it is not very likely).

Some netizens asked if the impact of the price surge during the 618 promotion period would ease, and Lin Lin bluntly replied: “Impossible.”

According to previous reports from IT Home, the surge in memory prices has led the storage industry to usher in a “golden period,” with news stating that Samsung Electronics’ total production of storage chips for next year is expected to be sold out. Currently, to ensure supply, client companies are increasingly inclined to sign long-term procurement agreements with Samsung, and some companies have even proposed signing five-year contracts that extend until 2030.

Additionally, at the MWC 2026 World Mobile Communications Conference, Lu Weibing, partner/president of Xiaomi Group, president of the mobile phone department, and general manager of the Xiaomi brand, also discussed the issue of rising storage prices, stating that this round of storage price increases is a long cycle, predicting it will last until the end of 2027. At the Xiaomi earnings meeting on March 24, Lu Weibing also mentioned that if they cannot hold out in the future, there is a possibility that Xiaomi will also raise prices.