{"id":506585,"date":"2026-03-06T04:54:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T04:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/506585\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T04:54:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T04:54:17","slug":"oneplus-16-could-be-the-latest-ram-price-victim-and-this-shows-the-whole-industry-is-in-trouble-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/506585\/","title":{"rendered":"OnePlus 16 could be the latest RAM price victim and this shows the whole industry is in trouble \u2014 here&#8217;s why"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"562be47c-8eba-4343-86af-c975b5d9d852\">It feels like just about everything is getting more expensive at the moment, and that&#8217;s probably because most things are \u2014 especially phones and other gadgets. Sadly, it seems like another phone brand could fall victim to the ever-increasing cost of entry, with a leaker claiming the OnePlus 16 could be getting a price hike.<\/p>\n<p>This comes from<a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.weibo.com\/6048569942\/QuxyFygXu?pagetype=detail#\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.weibo.com\/6048569942\/QuxyFygXu?pagetype=detail#\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> Digital Chat Station <\/a>(DCS) over on Weibo, with what they openly admit is a &#8220;bold prediction.&#8221; According to the leaker, the next flagship phones from OnePlus, iQOO and Redmi will all start at 5,000 CNY when they arrive later this year.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"elk-seasonal\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"562be47c-8eba-4343-86af-c975b5d9d852-2\" class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\">That price works out to about $725 if you convert directly. This doesn&#8217;t seem too bad at first glance, but you have to bear in mind that Chinese phones typically cost more in international markets. For reference, the <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tomsguide.com\/phones\/oneplus-phones\/oneplus-15-review\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.tomsguide.com\/phones\/oneplus-phones\/oneplus-15-review\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.tomsguide.com\/phones\/oneplus-phones\/oneplus-15-review\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">OnePlus 15<\/a> starts at 4,000 CNY in China, so an increase to 5,000 CNY means a 20% price hike.<\/p>\n<p>            You may like<\/p>\n<p>Since the OnePlus 15 starts at $899 \/ \u00a3899, applying the same price increase could mean the phone might cost somewhere in the region of $1,078. While I suspect OnePlus would pick a slightly more sensible and rounded price tag than this, such as $999 or $1,099, a price hike is still a price hike. None of us wants this, but we shouldn&#8217;t be all that surprised either.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"elk-5d848a0b-7768-4361-886a-116df3bc88d3\" class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/>A sign of things to come<\/p>\n<p class=\"vanilla-image-block\" style=\"padding-top:56.26%;\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/NEfDTcYjruNGhAkyWjsuRR.jpg\" alt=\"iPhone 17 Pro Max vs Pixel 10 Pro XL vs Galaxy S25 Ultra vs OnePlus 15.\"   loading=\"lazy\" data-new-v2-image=\"true\" data-original-mos=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/NEfDTcYjruNGhAkyWjsuRR.jpg\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/NEfDTcYjruNGhAkyWjsuRR.jpg\" class=\"inline\"\/>\n<\/p>\n<p>(Image credit: Tom&#8217;s Guide \/ John Velasco)<\/p>\n<p id=\"647e1c2e-4f01-4281-bd99-5fad03331943\">The cost of phone production has been on the rise for the past few years already, and the <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tomsguide.com\/computing\/ram-price-crisis-2026-everything-you-need-to-know\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.tomsguide.com\/computing\/ram-price-crisis-2026-everything-you-need-to-know\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.tomsguide.com\/computing\/ram-price-crisis-2026-everything-you-need-to-know\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">AI-induced RAM shortages<\/a> are only making that worse. Samsung has already revealed that <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tomsguide.com\/computing\/samsungs-100-percent-ram-price-hike-on-apple-means-your-next-iphone-mac-could-get-more-expensive\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.tomsguide.com\/computing\/samsungs-100-percent-ram-price-hike-on-apple-means-your-next-iphone-mac-could-get-more-expensive\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.tomsguide.com\/computing\/samsungs-100-percent-ram-price-hike-on-apple-means-your-next-iphone-mac-could-get-more-expensive#\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Apple has agreed to a 100% price increase<\/a> on its future RAM purchases, and few companies have the same buying and pricing power that Apple does.<\/p>\n<p>RAM prices are going to have a much bigger impact on other tech companies, to the point where some analysts believe RAMageddon could kill the <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tomsguide.com\/best-picks\/best-cheap-phones-under-300-dollars\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.tomsguide.com\/best-picks\/best-cheap-phones-under-300-dollars\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.tomsguide.com\/best-picks\/best-cheap-phones-under-300-dollars\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">budget Android phone<\/a> market. The problem won&#8217;t be going away until next year at the earliest, and I wouldn&#8217;t be surprised if problems continued through 2027 and beyond.<\/p>\n<p>Which means the majority of phones will be getting these troublesome price hikes in the coming years. We probably shouldn&#8217;t expect prices to come down if RAMagesdon ever ends either, because when has that ever happened?<\/p>\n<p class=\"newsletter-form__strapline\">Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqKAgKIiJDQklTRXdnTWFnOEtEWFJ2YlhObmRXbGtaUzVqYjIwb0FBUAE\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" id=\"3a50fc8e-1813-4a26-934a-690badccae1f\" data-url=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqKAgKIiJDQklTRXdnTWFnOEtEWFJ2YlhObmRXbGtaUzVqYjIwb0FBUAE\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"vanilla-image-block\" style=\"padding-top:31.51%;\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1764530901_14_r3t8zZ5ve4GewFTeoCM3R6.jpg\" alt=\"Google News\"   loading=\"lazy\" data-new-v2-image=\"true\" data-original-mos=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1764530901_14_r3t8zZ5ve4GewFTeoCM3R6.jpg\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1764530901_14_r3t8zZ5ve4GewFTeoCM3R6.jpg\" class=\"pull-right\"\/>\n<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"14bdf55a-041d-4d21-baa8-5a9cc43d4ce3\">Follow <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqKAgKIiJDQklTRXdnTWFnOEtEWFJ2YlhObmRXbGtaUzVqYjIwb0FBUAE\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqKAgKIiJDQklTRXdnTWFnOEtEWFJ2YlhObmRXbGtaUzVqYjIwb0FBUAE\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Tom&#8217;s Guide on Google News<\/a> and <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tomsguide.com\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=tomsguide.com\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">add us as a preferred source<\/a> to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. <\/p>\n<p><a id=\"elk-more-from-tom-s-guide\" class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/>More from Tom&#8217;s Guide<a id=\"elk-heading-buying-guide-10\" class=\"paywall\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It feels like just about everything is getting more expensive at the moment, and that&#8217;s probably because most&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":506586,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[165,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-506585","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-mobile","9":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506585\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}