Trending! Multiple smartphone brands are about to raise prices across the board: it may not be just one round, and new products will be at least 1000 more expensive! Netizens are calling it unaffordable, and some plan to only replace the battery

On the 26th, the topic "China's mobile phone industry will usher in a comprehensive price increase" topped the Weibo hot search list, attracting widespread attention from netizens.

Currently, the rising costs of storage chips

are triggering a chain reaction

that has affected the mobile phone industry.

The related topic has become a hot search.

According to Jiemian News,

starting from March 2026,

China's mobile phone industry

will officially face a wave of comprehensive price increases,

with new products seeing price increases of at least 1,000 yuan.

At the same time, mainstream brands such as OPPO, OnePlus, vivo, iQOO, Xiaomi, and Honor may successively raise the prices of older models. Market research firm Counterpoint Research predicts that after March, the average price of new mobile phones in the Chinese market will increase by 15% to 25% compared to models of the same tier in 2025.

According to Economic Observer, industry insiders revealed that major domestic mobile phone brands have completed their price increase plans, and some brands have already issued price adjustment notices. The price increase for new products released after March will be significantly larger, with the minimum increase for new products not less than 1,000 yuan, and the increase for mid-to-high-end flagship models possibly reaching 2,000 to 3,000 yuan. Industry insiders and analysts point out that the key factors driving this round of price increases in the mobile phone market are the unavoidable costs of memory and the drastic fluctuations in prices, with the sharp rise in prices of upstream memory and other components leading to a continuous increase in costs.

In fact, at the beginning of 2026, topics such as "memory prices surpassing gold" had also topped the hot search list, and the chain reaction triggered by rising memory prices is spreading from the upstream supply chain to mobile phone retail stores.

According to previous reports from Caixin, the latest industry data shows that in the first quarter of 2026, the contract price of general-purpose DRAM is expected to increase by 55% to 60% month-on-month, and the prices of NAND flash products will also rise by 33% to 38%, with consumer-grade high-capacity QLC products increasing by no less than 40%.

It is understood that at the beginning of January 2026, for example, a 256G DDR5 server memory stick had reached a price of 45,999 yuan. Recently, when reporters logged onto the JD shopping platform again, they found that the price of that specification memory stick has now risen to 56,999 yuan, an increase of about 30%.

The latest supply chain information shows that after a rebound in the second half of 2024, the prices of mobile phone memory and storage chips have maintained an upward trend for several consecutive quarters, with the increase further expanding at the beginning of 2026 In response, relevant personnel from Honor stated in an interview that memory prices have indeed risen sharply, showing a completely stalled upward trend.

Multiple industry chain insiders confirmed to the Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily that the current procurement cost of smartphone storage chips has increased by more than 80% compared to the same period last year, and there are still no signs of slowing down. According to channel and ODM manufacturers, several leading smartphone brands plan to initiate a new round of product price adjustments in early March. This will be the largest and most significant collective price adjustment in the smartphone industry in the past five years. A relevant person from OPPO stated that for higher-end models, the price increase could likely exceed 1,000 yuan.

With the frequent fluctuations in memory costs, the Chinese smartphone market may face the unprecedented situation of multiple price increases within a year in 2026.

Industry insiders indicated that flagship products, due to their higher prices and relatively more premium, are less affected by this storage chip price increase, while mid-range and low-end products are the most impacted. It is noteworthy that the storage cost of mid-range and low-end smartphones accounts for nearly 30%, and some budget models have even fallen into a negative profit margin.

Currently, there is a wave of terminal price increases in the smartphone industry due to rising storage prices. Since the end of 2025, several smartphone manufacturers have gradually raised the prices of new products, and this trend will continue into 2026. From the current price adjustment situation of mainstream brands, the recently released Redmi K90 series, iQOO 15, and other new models have increased in price by 100 to 600 yuan compared to the previous generation; mid-range models from brands like Lenovo and OPPO have also generally raised their prices, with some models seeing increases of up to 20%.

Many essential users have expressed: Can't afford to change.

Some people remain very calm:

Meizu Responds to Smartphone Delisting Rumors

On February 27, Meizu Technology posted on Weibo to respond to rumors about smartphone delisting: "Dear Meizu fans and friends concerned about Meizu, the voices regarding Meizu on the internet have been continuously fermenting, leading to many misunderstandings.

We hereby solemnly announce that we will firmly pursue legal responsibility for those who spread rumors and false reports about Meizu's 'bankruptcy restructuring, business suspension, and smartphone delisting,' in order to protect a clear online space.

The announcement indicates that Meizu will suspend the self-research hardware projects for new domestic smartphone products and is actively engaging with third-party hardware partners, while existing businesses will not be affected. Meizu will actively and comprehensively transform its strategy, shifting from a hardware-dominated approach to an AI-driven software product development direction in the AI era, and 'build a well-functioning enterprise based on the Flyme open ecosystem.'

Shangguan News

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