Smartphone price increases confirmed by Nothing's CEO. You shouldn't delay your purchase

We recently wrote about how Xiaomi’s CEO warned about rising phone prices. Now Carl Pei, co-founder and CEO of Nothing, joins him. And he adds an unpleasantly specific detail: RAM itself, according to him, now accounts for over half the cost of all components in a new phone.

RAM costs more than the processor and display combined

Pei wrote on X. He claims that RAM is currently the most expensive single component in a phone – it costs manufacturers more than the processor and display combined. For his own Nothing Phone 4a, the price of memory reportedly doubled during development and jumped again after its market launch.

This is already visible in retail prices. According to Pei, some Android phones have been launched up to a hundred dollars more expensive since February (approximately 2,100 Czech crowns) than their direct predecessors. And they won’t get cheaper – he believes price pressure is more likely to intensify next year.

Why are memory prices rising? Artificial intelligence has swallowed them up

The reason is exactly the same as with Xiaomi. Memory manufacturers like Samsung, SK Hynix, or Micron are shifting capacity from standard chips to high-speed memory for data centers, which are driving artificial intelligence models forward. There’s a higher margin there, so less is left for mobile DRAM and NAND storage – and what’s scarce, gets more expensive.

Smartphone price increases confirmed by Nothing's CEO. You shouldn't delay your purchase Adam Kurfürst News Adam Kurfürst News

Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun spoke about the same thing. His company has already raised prices for Chinese models by 200 to 400 yuan (approximately 600 to 1,200 Czech crowns) since March, and according to management, the most expensive flagships could exceed the 10,000 yuan mark by the end of the year. The memory shortage is expected to last at least until the end of 2027.

Pei draws a simple conclusion from this: anyone considering a new phone shouldn’t wait. “The best time to buy was yesterday, the second best is now,” he wrote. It’s also expected that major discount promotions won’t be as generous as before.

Do you change your phone every year, or will you wait until prices drop again?

Sources: Android Authority, The Verge, X (Carl Pei)