A few days ago I wrote a news article about how smartphone prices could skyrocket across all segments, and now we’re seeing the theory in practice, starting with the Xiaomi 17 Ultra. The basic version of the handset costs more than its predecessor, and even Samsung or Apple are not completely immune.
Get out of here and be careful. Last year, the Chinese manufacturer launched the Xiaomi 15 Ultra priced at CNY 6,499 for the base variant with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The 16GB RAM and 512GB storage variant was priced at CNY 6,999.
Xiaomi’s pricing tells an unpleasant story
However, there is no Xiaomi 17 Ultra with 256 GB of storage this year. Instead, the brand is selling its customers the new base variant with 512GB of storage and 12GB of RAM for CNY 6,999, the price at which buyers got the 16GB RAM variant last year.
The 16GB RAM variant of the Xiaomi 17 Ultra costs CNY 7,499, which suggests that Chinese buyers will pay a premium of CNY 500 for the exact RAM and storage configuration, which is about 7.1%. The fact that the basic version of the Xiaomi 17 Ultra now comes with less RAM and buyers have to pay more for the same storage capacity is a warning.
Although this cannot serve as a guide since each brand has different profit margins and is able to absorb the increased price, the memory crisis is no longer a theory: it is real and could impact the smartphones you are used to seeing and buying in the US in no time.
If you read my previous story on this topic, I mentioned that smartphone manufacturers (including popular brands) can approach the problem in one of three ways: raise prices, cut margins, or quietly downgrade RAM. Xiaomi, my dear readers, has adopted a mix of the first and third options and removed the lower memory option.
Same price, less RAM: where the real rise begins
Expect this to be a trend in the smartphone market in the future. You’ll see fewer base variants (those with less memory), models with higher standard memory and storage (since they command a higher price), or the same starting price for fewer gigabytes of storage. And neither Samsung nor Apple are immune from this.
To increase their profits, both companies rely on memory tiering, with base models with less RAM serving as anchors or entry points for product lines and higher variants (with more memory) offering users better everyday performance at a higher price.
The report by Aju News says that Samsung Electronics’ MX division may increase the prices of the Galaxy S26 series and Galaxy Z Fold/Flip 8 by up to 10%. Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro models (Pro and Pro Max) could also face a price increase in fall 2026 due to increased manufacturing costs.
For these reasons, I don’t think 2026 is the right year to upgrade your smartphone. While the long-standing models on the market, such as the iPhone 16, the base model iPhone 17, the Pixel 9 or 10 series, or the Galaxy S25 series, may be available at a reduced price, almost all new models could come to market at a higher price.
