Buying a smartphone is about to become more expensive. Brands like Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi and OnePlus are launching their upcoming smartphones at higher prices. Meanwhile, prices of already launched phones may increase. Recently, OnePlus launched its flagship phone, OnePlus 15, at a starting price of ₹72,999. The phone is ₹3,000 more expensive than the OnePlus 13, which was launched earlier this year at a starting price of ₹69,999. Higher prices will affect smartphone sales, which is why companies are worried.
Apart from OnePlus, Apple’s new iPhone 17 series launched this year has also been launched at a higher price. The iPhone 17 has been launched at a starting price of ₹82,999, which is ₹5,000 more expensive than last year’s iPhone 16. However, this year’s iPhone comes in a starting storage variant of 256GB. Apart from this, the prices of the upcoming iQOO 15 and Oppo Find X9 series phones may also be higher. This begs the question: why are smartphone brands launching their upcoming phones at such high prices?
Why would smartphones be so expensive?
No official information has been shared by smartphone companies in this matter. However, according to industry experts, the demand for AI chips has increased these days, causing chipset manufacturers to focus on AI chip production. Meanwhile, the demand for AI chips has affected the production of flash memory chips, disrupting the supply chain and increasing the demand for flash memory chips.
Tech companies use flash memory chips to train AI models. Due to high demand, the demand for memory chips is not being met, which may lead to increased prices for suppliers. Not just smartphones, but all electronic products that use flash memory chips, including smart TVs, could become even more expensive.
Oppo and Vivo increased prices
Smartphone launches may be delayed due to supply chain issues with memory chips. As a result, prices of most upcoming smartphones could be up to ₹3,000 higher than their existing models. For example, Oppo has increased the price of Reno 14 and Reno 14 Pro, launched this year, by ₹2,000. Vivo has also increased the price of its budget smartphones, Vivo T4x and Vivo T4x Lite, by ₹500. As a result, you may find smartphones from many other brands priced higher in the future.
