What Happened: So, here’s some bad news for anyone in the market for a new phone. The global supply chain is in chaos right now because the price of memory chips (the stuff that stores your photos and makes your phone multitask) is going through the roof.
According to a new report from Jiemian News, big-name phone makers like Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo are slamming the brakes on buying new chips.
Why? Because suppliers like Micron, Samsung, and SK Hynix have jacked up prices by as much as 50%.
It’s getting desperate. The report says some phone companies have less than two months’ worth of these chips left in stock.
Some have under three weeks of DRAM. This all started heating up when Samsung stopped giving out prices for its DDR5 chips back in October, causing panic and a 25% price spike in just a week.
Oppo
Why Is This Important: So, why is this happening? You can thank the AI boom.
All those AI servers and massive data centers are incredibly hungry for the exact same memory chips.
And they’re willing to pay top dollar – like 30% more per chip than a phone company. Naturally, the chipmakers are sending all their supply to the highest bidder. It’s just good business for them.
To make things even worse, all the big suppliers (Samsung, SK Hynix, etc.) have also been cutting back on production just to drive prices up. With inventory vanishing, phone makers are stuck. They either have to pay these insane new prices or, well, stop building phones.
Xiaomi
Why Should I Care: Okay, so why does this matter to you? If you’re planning to buy a new smartphone anytime soon, get ready to pay more for it.
Memory is one of the most expensive parts of a phone, right after the main processor. It can be up to 30% of the total cost.
With chip prices spiking this hard, experts are predicting that mid-range and high-end phones are about to get a price bump of $15 to $70 (¥100–¥500).
For us, that means we’re either going to get less storage for our money, or we’re going to have to shell out even more for those big 512GB or 1TB models.
What’s Next: Don’t expect this to get better anytime soon. The report quoted insiders warning that this shortage is here to stay.
Even if the chipmakers decided to build new factories today, it would take one to two years just to get them up and running.
And the AI boom isn’t slowing down. That means chip prices are probably going to climb even higher in early 2026.
Right now, the chipmakers are holding all the cards. Unless a giant like Apple can step in and use its massive power to negotiate a better deal, the rest of the industry (and all of us) are probably just going to have to eat the cost.