If you are waiting for a massive discount on a new smartphone purchase during this year’s sales, Nothing CEO Carl Pei has an advice for you: Change your strategy. Pei has issued a stark warning to consumers to buy their next phone immediately because prices are skyrocketing with no signs of slowing down.
Memory Costs Driving Price Hikes
In a recent post on X (formerly Twitter), Pei broke the news on the smartphone supply chain ‘problems’, revealing that a massive spike in memory costs is driving up retail prices globally. According to the tech executive, memory has officially overtaken processors and screens to become the single most expensive component inside a smartphone – frequently accounting for more than 50% of a device’s total hardware manufacturing bill.
Pei used his own company’s budget-friendly phone to illustrate just how rapidly the market is shifting. While Pei had previously warned the industry about these looming supply chain constraints earlier this year, he admitted that the financial damage is playing out much faster than anyone had predicted.
Full Message from Carl Pei on X
“Memory is now the most expensive component in a smartphone. It’s more expensive than the processor, more expensive than the display, and can account for more than 50% of the total hardware bill. For Phone (4a), memory costs doubled between when we decided to build the device and when it launched. They’ve doubled again since. I posted about this earlier this year. It’s now playing out, faster than predicted. Phone prices are going up, and they'll keep going up into next year. Since February, new phones have been launching up to $100 more expensive than their predecessors. In India, phones above ₹30K have seen price jumps of ₹7,000 or more. The natural instinct is to buy ahead. It doesn’t work that way. In a shortage, memory is allocated, not bought. You get what you’re given, at the current price. If you’ve been waiting to upgrade a device, the best time was yesterday. The next best time is now. This year’s sale season won’t have the discounts people are used to.”
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