Storage surges by 300%! After the phone price increase, no one is buying: Qualcomm and MediaTek together cut production by approximately 20 million processors.

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（Source: Kuai Technology）

Kuai Technology April 3 news: According to media reports, the two major mobile chip manufacturers in the world, Qualcomm and MediaTek, have both simultaneously reduced shipments of 4nm mobile processors. The combined reduction amounts to between 15 million and 20 million units, corresponding to 20k to 30k wafers.

Over the past three months, the spot prices of global memory chips have risen cumulatively by more than 300%. The share of memory components in total device costs has climbed from the previous 10%-15% to 30%-40%.

The root cause of this round of order cuts lies in the skyrocketing prices of memory chips. This cost pressure is feeding through to increases in the prices of end mobile products, and supply-chain pressures have begun to severely affect demand in the smartphone market.

The direct driving force behind rising phone prices comes from a comprehensive increase in upstream component costs—including procurement price hikes for core parts such as processors, memory chips, and display panels—forcing smartphone manufacturers to raise retail prices to pass along costs.

Major brands such as Samsung, Xiaomi, OPPO, and vivo have, starting from Q1 2026, already increased prices for multiple mid-to-low-end models by 100 to 300 yuan RMB, with some models seeing price hikes of more than 8%.

Especially after March, the average price of new smartphones in the China market for the same tier as in 2025 rose by 15% to 25%. In addition, industry data shows that in Q1 2026, the average smartphone price increased by 12.3% year over year, and the upward trend is expected to continue into Q2.

Public information shows that, in its latest survey, an organization has lowered its forecast for global smartphone shipments in 2026 to 1.1 billion units, a year-on-year decrease of 13%. Among them, the Android camp is expected to see shipments decline by 15% year over year.

This adjustment is not limited to the low-tier market; demand from the mid-tier to mid-to-high-tier segments is also clearly weakening.

Supply-chain insiders point out that this round of adjustments has not yet hit bottom. With memory chip quotes staying high and consumer sentiment remaining sluggish, they expect the smartphone market to become stable only by the mid-point of 2027.

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