Price Hikes and Shipments Cut! Storage Chips Sting End Manufacturers

01 Storage Surge, Terminals on Edge

In the last quarter of the previous year, the heat from storage price hikes had already spread to the terminal market. Recent actions by smartphone and PC manufacturers have become more frequent and intense: price adjustments for new products, channel partners expediting orders, signing long-term contracts to secure supply, and adjusting product configurations and supply sources... These parallel strategies indicate that cost pressures have begun to transmit to final selling prices and shipment schedules.

Based on the latest publicly available information, we have compiled the responses and impacts of storage chip price hikes on terminals such as smartphones and PCs:

Firstly, several domestic and international smartphone manufacturers have already raised prices or have reportedly planned to do so.

Samsung: Latest smartphones see price hikes; even its own memory division avoids long-term contracts

Samsung recently launched its flagship Galaxy S26 smartphone series. The starting prices for the base and "Plus" models have increased by 1,000 yuan per unit compared to the previous generation, while the starting price for the Ultra model has risen by 300 yuan per unit.

Meanwhile, to secure shipment volumes for the Galaxy S26 series, the LPDDR5X memory required for the initial mass production will be supplied equally by Samsung's in-house Device Solutions (DS) Division and Micron Technology, each holding a 50% share. Furthermore, insiders reveal that Samsung's semiconductor division has abandoned a Long-Term Agreement (LTA) with the MX Division, replacing it with quarterly contracts to maximize profits.

Apple: Reportedly Accepts 100% Price Hikes from Samsung and Kioxia

According to semiconductor industry sources, Samsung’s DS division initially planned to raise prices for Apple by approximately 60%. It started the first round of negotiations with a 100% increase as an opening bid, intending to leave room for later adjustments. Unexpectedly, Apple accepted the offer on the spot. Separately, foreign media reported that Apple has also agreed to Kioxia’s terms: NAND flash prices have doubled starting from the January–March quarter, with further price adjustments scheduled every subsequent quarter.

Xiaomi: Secures Long-Term Contracts and Raises Prices to Cope with Rising Costs

On November 18, 2025, Lu Weibing, Partner and President of Xiaomi Group, stated that amid the industry-wide surge in memory prices, Xiaomi had prepared in advance by signing full-year 2026 supply agreements with partners to ensure stable supply. He added that Xiaomi may offset cost pressures through price increases and product mix upgrades in the future. At the end of December, Xiaomi launched its new model, the Xiaomi 17 Ultra. The starting price of the 12GB+512GB version was 500 yuan higher than the previous generation, mainly driven by the sharp rise in memory costs — which far outpaced increases in processors, cameras, and other components.

Honor: Restricting shipments of models priced at ¥2,000 and below

According to Jiemian News, a staff member from Honor’s China region stated:“We did not hit our sales targets, but our performance is not bad either. We are still conducting internal reviews. Affected by upstream cost pressures, we are now controlling shipments of models priced at 2,000 yuan and below.”

“Market share targets are assigned to the MSS (Marketing and Sales Services department), while profitability targets are given to the product line. The product line is losing money on these models, so production has been halted. As a result, MSS has no inventory to sell, leading to shortages of core products. In reality, it is a game of interests among all parties.”

Domestic Chinese smartphone brands: Multiple firms plan price hikes

Recently, several industry chain insiders noted that the procurement cost of smartphone storage chips has surged by more than 80% year-on-year, with no signs of slowing down.Driven by such cost pressures, channel and ODM sources revealed that major smartphone brands including OPPO, OnePlus, vivo, Xiaomi, iQOO, and Honor plan to implement a new round of product price adjustments starting in early March.This will be the largest and most significant collective price increase in the smartphone industry in nearly five years.Amid frequent fluctuations in memory costs, China’s smartphone market in 2026 may face multiple price hikes within a single year for the first time in history.

Previously, around December 2025, multiple handset makers including Redmi, iQOO, Lenovo, and OPPO had already raised prices on newly launched mid-range and flagship models, with some seeing increases of up to 20%.Supply chain sources also indicated that Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, Transsion, and other brands have cut their 2026 total handset orders by 10%–20%, focusing reductions mainly on low-end and mid-range models.

In the PC sector, multiple manufacturers have also announced price increases.

Lenovo: Another price hike in March, urging customers to place orders quickly

According to a report by CRN, Wade McFarland, head of Lenovo's North American channels, warned partners in early February that the company expects to raise prices on some commercial products early next month due to the ongoing global memory chip shortage. This adjustment will involve commercial product lines within Lenovo's Intelligent Devices Group (IDG), covering PCs, smartphones, and tablets. McFarland also used the price warning to urge partners to "place orders as soon as possible" before February 25th to avoid price increases after March.

Previously, on December 7, 2025, it was reported that Lenovo had notified customers that all current quotes for servers and PCs would expire on January 1, 2026, and that new quotes at that time would reflect significant price increases.

HP: Expects Storage and Component Costs to Rise to 35% of Total

When releasing its Q1 fiscal 2026 results (ending January 31, 2026), HP announced that it has implemented price increases, expanded its supplier base, and adjusted product designs to reduce memory chip usage. The company noted that these measures have made progress, including the qualification of new suppliers.

Last November, HP stated that storage and component costs accounted for 15% to 18% of PC material costs. Now, the company expects this ratio to rise to 35% for the current fiscal year.

Previously, in late November 2025, HP’s CEO said the sharp rise in memory costs would force the company to raise prices and launch lower-specification products. There are also rumors that HP is even considering sourcing DRAM from suppliers outside the top three major manufacturers.

Dell: Commercial PC prices see significant hikes, up to 30%

In December 2025, a price adjustment list disclosed by foreign media showed that in response to the sustained rise in storage chip prices, Dell would significantly increase prices for its commercial PC products aimed at enterprise customers, with increases of up to 30%. An unnamed employee in Dell's sales department stated that the price hikes for these PC products range from 10% to 30%, depending on the specifics of the customer's contract.

Acer: PC prices rise; customers accelerate order placements recently

Acer Japan recently announced on platform X that its official online store will implement price adjustments for computer products starting February 20th. The primary reason for this adjustment is the impact of price increases for components such as memory and solid-state drives. Current prices will be valid only until February 19th, although prices for some products will remain unchanged.

Acer's CEO recently stated in an interview that memory accounts for approximately 25% of a PC's overall material costs, and recent price increases have reached 50-100%, which inevitably drives up final product prices. As the market anticipates further PC price increases down the line, customers have accelerated their order placements recently. Acer is currently benefiting from this rush order effect, reporting nearly 40% year-on-year revenue growth in January. However, it remains difficult to predict how long this current market trend will last.

ASUS: Adjusting prices for select products

ASUS announced that starting January 5, 2026, it will implement "strategic price adjustments" for specific product portfolios. The company stated that structural volatility in the global supply chain continues to drive up the costs of key components, particularly DRAM and NAND flash memory.

Regarding server and infrastructure manufacturers, Lenovo and HPE have indicated they will shorten the validity period of their price quotes.

Lenovo: Shortening price quote validity

According to foreign media reports, Lenovo's Infrastructure Solutions Group (ISG), which is primarily responsible for servers and storage products, is shortening its price quote windows. The validity period for quotes on its internal bidding platform has been reduced to 14 days, while the validity for quotes on external platforms used by resellers and distributors has been shortened to 30 days. Concurrently, ISG has begun re-pricing certain large backlog orders and deals in the quotation stage that are significantly impacted by rising costs, and has also suspended discounts for partners who assist in acquiring new customers.

HPE: Shortens quote validity and allows price adjustments before shipment

In a letter to partners dated February 5th, the Senior Vice President of HPE's Global Channel and Partner Ecosystem stated that as the industry is grappling with memory price increases and supply constraints, HPE will "shorten the quote validity window to 14 days (excluding public sector, B2B, OEM)," reduced from the previous 30 days. Additionally, HPE will "update contract terms and conditions for server and GreenLake orders, allowing for price adjustments to be made prior to the shipment date."

Earlier, the automotive industry had also begun issuing warnings.

During a recent livestream, Xiaomi Group Chairman Lei Jun mentioned that memory prices are currently rising quarter by quarter, increasing by 40% to 50% last quarter, with further increases reportedly expected in the first quarter. Following this trend, the cost of memory for just one car could rise by several thousand yuan this year. At an industry conference in late 2025, Li Auto's Vice President of Supply Chain, Meng Qingpeng, predicted that the automotive industry might face a memory chip supply crisis in 2026, with fulfillment rates potentially falling below 50%. In early January this year, NIO Founder Li Bin issued a warning to the industry during a media communication for the rollout of the company's one-millionth vehicle: "The biggest cost pressure this year isn't raw materials; it's memory. Memory prices are going crazy right now."

02 Terminal Anxiety: Raise Prices and Risk Sluggish Sales, or Hold Prices and Face Losses

Overall, terminal manufacturers are currently focusing their efforts in two main directions: one is adjusting their own strategies, including pricing, quotation formats, and production volumes; the other is seeking more guaranteed supply from storage vendors.

The most direct impact of the storage chip price hikes is the rise in terminal costs.

According to institutional analysis, overall storage prices began a volatile upward trend starting in February 2025, with significant surges occurring from October onwards. It was also around the end of last year that terminal manufacturers began publicly announcing specific actions in response to the storage price increases.

Moreover, the upward trend in storage prices is intensifying. TrendForce points out that contract prices for conventional DRAM are expected to rise by 90%–95% in the first quarter of this year, while the overall contract price for conventional DRAM and HBM combined will also increase by 80%–85%.

Counterpoint Research points out that the Bill of Materials (BOM) cost for the low-end segment of the smartphone market (products under $200) has increased by 20%-30% since the beginning of the year, while the mid-to-high-end market has seen an increase of 10%-15%. It also suggests that storage prices may rise by another 40% before the second quarter of 2026, causing BOM costs to climb a further 8% to over 15% from their current elevated levels.

These rising costs lead to two direct consequences: reduced shipment volumes and manufacturers being forced to shift focus towards higher-margin, premium products.

Counterpoint currently projects that global smartphone sales will decline by at least 2% this year, a significant reversal from the growth expectations held just a few months ago. This would mark the first annual decline in shipments since 2023.

If the mid-to-high-end market can still offset cost pressures through price increases, the low-end market, which relies on "low prices" for its appeal, finds itself in a dilemma. On one hand, profit margins are inherently thin, making it impossible to absorb the cost pressure without raising prices. On the other hand, if entry-level phones costing a few hundred yuan see their prices rise into the thousands, consumers may not be willing to pay, making sales volumes difficult to guarantee and potentially leading to the waste of precious storage inventory.

An ODM manufacturer source has confirmed to Cailian Press the order cuts in the low-end segment: "Downstream mobile phone brands have cut orders for low-end products. The company is advising clients to shift towards the mid-range, and negotiations are still ongoing." Additionally, an analyst noted that over the past few months, some smartphone manufacturers have been adopting mitigation strategies, such as downgrading other components like camera modules, displays, and audio components.

Furthermore, as memory manufacturers prioritize their core capacity for the highly profitable AI market, where demand is soaring, demand from the consumer electronics market has not disappeared. Consequently, the current supply shortage for memory chips has officially ushered in a seller's market.

To secure supplies, downstream terminal manufacturers are forced to bid up prices as if at an "auction" to obtain allocations, which in turn further drives up memory prices.

TrendForce points out that due to PC shipments in the fourth quarter of 2025 exceeding expectations, PC DRAM remains broadly in short supply. Even tier-1 PC OEMs that have secured supply from manufacturers are seeing their DRAM inventory levels decline. It is projected that PC DRAM prices will increase by over 100% quarter-over-quarter in the first quarter of 2026, a record high increase.

As for the Mobile DRAM market, due to the widening gap between supply and demand in the overall DRAM market, various terminal applications are competitively raising bids to secure allocations. This is expected to lead to a substantial increase in contract prices for both LPDDR4X and LPDDR5X in the first quarter, both rising by around 90% quarter-over-quarter—also the highest on record.

It is foreseeable that terminals, especially consumer electronics in the mid-to-low-end market, will face even greater cost pressures moving forward.

In a recent interview, the CEO of Taiwanese module maker Phison commented that for a car priced at $30,000, where storage costs rise from $1 to $30, manufacturers may not feel the impact as keenly. However, for a $300 television, if storage costs jump from just over $1 to $20, the BOM cost skyrockets. Manufacturers are then left with a dilemma: either raise prices and risk declining sales, or sell at a loss.

Overall, with storage prices currently surging and supply tight, smartphone, PC, and automotive manufacturers are all scrambling to secure products, with consumer electronics being hit the hardest. The share of memory chips in a smartphone's BOM has now exceeded 20%. Terminals are left with the choice of either raising prices or incurring losses. However, price increases will suppress demand, so while consumer terminals are likely to raise prices, shipment volumes are expected to decline. In contrast, sectors like automotive and servers, which involve higher unit prices, are better positioned to absorb the storage price hikes.