Will we see affordable phones with flagship performance next year too? We might already know the answer.

Year after year, manufacturers of (not only) ARM chipsets compete to see whose solution will be more powerful. However, this effort often entails higher production costs, which are then logically passed on to the price of the phones themselves. Nevertheless, various smartphone brands, such as Poco, still strive to bring models with the currently most powerful chipsets on the market, albeit with some delay. What will it be like this year, and should we be afraid that we won’t see affordable phones with flagship performance next year?

Will there be enough affordable phones with flagship performance next year too?

Certainly, a higher chipset price can also be reflected in the prices of flagships; however, manufacturers have more room for maneuver with TOP models. In the case of their more affordable variants, they must consider much more carefully which components to pay extra for and where to save. The input cost here simply translates much faster into the final price of the entire device. The good news, however, is that according to the respected leaker Digital Chat Station, the price increase for Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 and Mediatek Dimensity 9500 chipsets will be minimal.

This is good news after last year’s price increase, especially for Qualcomm. It is estimated that while Qualcomm charged around $200 for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, the Snapdragon 8 Elite was expected to be around $240. This is clearly visible, for example, with the Poco F7 Ultra. Although it offered truly decent specifications, it was still the most expensive phone the brand has launched in our market to date.

A slight price increase, approximately 5%, is then expected for LPDDR5x memory. However, this should not drastically affect phone prices. Let’s recall that Qualcomm has decided to shift production and, instead of Samsung’s 2nm technology, will utilize the newly optimized TSMC N3P process based on 3nm technology. The flagship Mediatek Dimensity 9500 will also rely on the same process.

Do you regularly buy the most powerful phones on the market, or do you prefer, for example, last year’s generations of TOP chipsets?

Source: AndroidHeadlines.com