If you're planning to buy a new budget or mid-range phone, you might want to rethink. Prices are shooting up across the board. The main reason is a spike in manufacturing costs, especially because AI companies are buying up all the memory chips. This trend could mean that the cheapest 5G phone will soon cost you ₹20,000.
New Delhi: If you've been window-shopping for a new smartphone, you might have noticed that your budget doesn't stretch as far as it used to. Prices for budget and mid-range smartphones are quietly climbing in India. Popular brands like Samsung, Vivo, Realme, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Nothing have all increased the prices of several models. As a result, many people are now just waiting for big sales or exchange offers to buy a new phone. So, what's really going on?
Why are smartphone prices going up?
Across different models, prices have jumped by anywhere from ₹1,000 to ₹3,500, and sometimes even more. The surprising part is that this isn't for new launches; the price hike is on existing, popular models. This directly affects the budget and mid-range phones that sell the most in our country. A recent report suggests that because of this, many people are being forced to use their current phones for longer instead of upgrading. This has already led to a drop in smartphone sales compared to last year. Projections show that sales could fall from the usual 130-135 million units a year to between 115-120 million by 2026.
The memory chip problem
The main culprit here is the rising manufacturing cost across the supply chain. A major factor is the price increase of memory chips, specifically DRAM RAM and NAND flash storage. It turns out, AI companies are now buying a huge portion of the global memory supply for their data centres, which has become a major problem for smartphone companies. These data centres need massive amounts of memory hardware to function. With the cost of parts going up, brands have no choice but to pass on the cost to us, the customers. Experts are saying that finding a 5G phone under the ₹15,000 mark is going to become very difficult. In fact, some shocking reports suggest that if this trend continues, the starting price for a basic 5G phone could soon hit ₹20,000.
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On the flip side, this price hike for new phones is expected to be good for the second-hand market. Analysts believe that the demand for used 5G phones will likely increase.
