(Photo/photo by reporter Huang Zhaoxiang)
Recently, the prices of Android mobile phones have skyrocketed. Even if the latest flagship model is not a foldable phone, the price starts from 40,000 yuan, and even a large capacity will cost 60,000 yuan. However, this increase may not be the end yet. As the cost of Qualcomm’s new generation chips increases, mobile phone prices may continue to rise.
Looking at the prices of this year’s Android flagship phones, it can be said that each one is higher than the other. The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra starts at 44,900 yuan, which is 1,000 yuan more expensive than the previous generation; the Sony Xperia 1 VIII starts at 44,880 yuan, which is almost 4,000 yuan more expensive. At the same time, as vivo and OPPO have successively introduced Ultra models to join the high-end market competition, the asking prices of large-capacity models have exceeded the 60,000 yuan mark.
At present, most brand executives have pointed out that price increases are inseparable from the cost of memory and parts. The latest news from @yabhishekhd, who broke the news, pointed out that the next wave of price increases may be processors, especially Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro. The single-chip price is as high as more than 300 US dollars (about 9,460 yuan), which is much more expensive than the current top-of-the-line Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5’s US$280 (about 8,830 yuan), and may even double in three years.
Foreign media “AndroidHeadlines” stated that the key to rising chip costs is TSMC’s manufacturing costs. Qualcomm is about to enter the 2nm generation. Through the updated process, both power consumption and performance can be improved. However, the cost of a wafer is rumored to be as high as 30,000 US dollars, which is almost twice the price of the previous 3nm.
In order to cope with costs, it is rumored that Qualcomm will subdivide its flagship chips again and will launch the standard chip SM8950 for mainstream flagships, which will support LPDDR5X memory and Adreno 845 GPU. The other is a Pro version (codename SM8975) specially provided for Ultra-level top-end mobile phones. It will be upgraded to the latest LPDDR6 memory and UFS 5.0 storage technology, and equipped with a stronger Adreno 850 GPU, giving mobile phone brands more choices.
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