Nothing CEO: The best time to buy a phone was yesterday

Carl Pei, co-founder of OnePlus and Nothing, commented on X about rising smartphone prices amid the memory crisis. According to his statements, “yesterday was the best time to get a new device.”

Memory is now the most expensive component

“The second-best time is now,” Pei adds. “This year, we won't see the usual discounts.” Memory has become 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.”

As a calculation example, he uses the Phone (4a). For this mid-range smartphone, memory costs doubled between production readiness and market launch – and then doubled again. Prices are rising faster than predicted, according to the Nothing CEO.

Earlier this year, Pei said the AI boom had fundamentally changed demand: the same memory used in smartphones is now also used in AI data centers. This means, for the first time, “smartphones are in direct competition with AI infrastructure, leading to a sharp increase in memory prices,” Pei further explains.

Pei expects smartphone prices to continue to rise into next year: “Since February, new smartphones have been coming onto the market that are up to $100 more expensive than their predecessors. In India, smartphones over 30,000 rupees (around 270 euros) have seen price jumps of 7,000 rupees (about 62 euros) or more.”

Massive Price Increases

Nothing is just one of the companies in a difficult phase. Major smartphone manufacturers like Apple, Samsung, and Xiaomi are also likely to make long-term adjustments. Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun also indicated that the memory crisis is likely to drag on longer in a post, as reported by the Beijing-based portal Pandaily: The Xiaomi CEO described the current development of memory prices as “crazy” and warned that prices are likely to continue to rise over the next two years. He also advised consumers looking to buy a new smartphone to “strike sooner rather than later.”

The situation is similarly bleak for PC manufacturers and in other industries: Sony, for example, has already increased the price of the Playstation 5 for the third time, Nintendo's Switch 2 will soon cost over 500 euros, and Valve is now charging 780 euros for the Steam Deck OLED instead of 570 euros. Due to the crisis, Valve has not yet released prices for the Steam Machine and Steam Frame, although the products are expected to be released during the summer.

(afl)