"Nearly Half a Year After Launch, Price Surges 1,000 Yuan Overnight" Multiple Smartphone Manufacturers Announce Price Adjustments

Source: Shanghai Securities Journal Author: Jing Huaiqiao Yang Yi

On March 16, Shanghai Securities Journal reporters conducted on-site visits to mobile retail channels in Wuhan, Shenzhen, and other cities. They found that some mobile phone brands have already implemented price increases. The prices of certain models have risen by 300 to 500 yuan based on factory prices, and after the cancellation of “store subsidies,” the price changes for some models are nearly 1,000 yuan.

Previously, several mobile phone manufacturers’ executives publicly stated that rising memory prices have put pressure on related businesses. Brands like OPPO and vivo announced that they would raise the prices of some models starting in mid-March. Due to explosive demand growth and a “cliff-like” shortage of production capacity, the prices of storage chips have continued to rise since September 2025.

“Nearly a year after listing, prices increased by thousands overnight”

Earlier, OPPO issued an official statement saying that, facing rising costs of key mobile components including high-speed storage hardware, the company has carefully evaluated and decided that, starting March 16, it will adjust the prices of some already released products. The affected products include the OPPO A series, K series, and OnePlus.

On the afternoon of March 16, reporters visited the JD MALL Wuhan Xujia Pavilion store. An OPPO sales representative said, “Some models still had a 400 yuan ‘store subsidy’ yesterday, but it has been canceled today.” Since the store has not yet received the new price list, products subject to price adjustments cannot be sold yet.

The sales representative explained that, for example, a OnePlus 15 with 16+512GB storage was launched in October last year. Its online price has now been adjusted to 5,399 yuan, while previously the lowest in-store price was just over 4,000 yuan. Additionally, multiple memory versions are out of stock and cannot be restocked for the time being.

On the same day, another mobile phone manufacturer, vivo, issued a notice regarding adjustments to the suggested retail prices of some products. Due to the continued significant increase in global semiconductor and storage costs, after careful evaluation, the company will adjust the suggested retail prices of some products starting at 10:00 on March 18. This is the second major brand after OPPO to publicly announce a price increase.

In Shenzhen Huaqiangbei, a vivo store told reporters they had not yet received specific notice of the price hike, but some models are already out of stock. It is expected that a satellite communication version will be launched later, which will definitely be priced higher than the standard version.

Market expectations for price increases have been present for some time. The Price Monitoring Center of the National Development and Reform Commission released an analysis forecast at the end of February, indicating that the rising prices of storage chips are gradually being transmitted to consumer electronic terminal products. Manufacturers have limited room to ease cost pressures through component downgrades, and raising terminal prices will become a general trend. Currently, the prices of new domestic models from Xiaomi, vivo, and other brands with the same storage configurations have increased by 300 to 500 yuan compared to the previous generation.

Price hikes accelerate industry transformation

In addition to the price increases for already launched phones, the prices of some upcoming new models will also rise. Sales personnel from multiple brands stated that the new phones to be released in March and April will see price increases compared to last year, “all models are expected to go up, with only the timing differing.”

Reporters learned that, with rising costs of memory and other materials, some manufacturers have already reduced the shipment volume of new phones planned for 2026.

Industry insiders say that to mitigate the impact of the memory “super cycle,” some manufacturers are also exploring new categories. Several brands are developing imaging products similar to DJI’s Pocket form factor.

“Currently, only storage cards have increased in price; related imaging products have not,” confirmed sales staff at stores selling DJI and DJI-related products. The prices of imaging products on sale have not been affected by the increase in memory prices. This also reflects the feasibility of mobile phone manufacturers expanding into the imaging field.

Meanwhile, rising memory prices are further diversifying industry competition. On February 27, Meizu Technology announced a strategic transformation, stating it would suspend in-house hardware development for new domestic phones and instead engage third-party hardware partners. The existing business remains unaffected.

Meizu said that in recent years, the competition in the domestic mobile phone market has been more intense than expected, with many brands choosing to shrink their strategies. The company hopes to maintain the normal iteration of Meizu phones, but the continuous surge in memory prices has made the commercial launch of new products impossible.

“The entire industry is under great pressure now, and it requires the whole industry chain to work together to solve it,” said Honor CEO Li Jian at the March 10 new product launch, speaking to the Shanghai Securities Journal.

(Edited by: Wen Jing)