Our Bureau
New Delhi
Major smartphone brands in India have raised prices by as much as 40% on many models since second half of 2025. This affects buyers who now face higher costs for popular phones.
Samsung, Oppo, Xiaomi, Realme, Vivo, and Nothing lead the price hikes. More than eight brands started this from the second half of 2025. Prices rose by an average of Rs 1,500 per device across certain models.
Mid-range phones, once cheap and popular, see the biggest jumps. Some mid-range devices cost more now than premium ones. Sales dropped 9% year-on-year in 2026 as people delay buying and fix old phones instead.
A global shortage of memory chips like DRAM and NAND drives the increase. AI firms buy high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for data centers, pulling supply from phones. Memory costs jumped 50-60% in some cases.
Phone makers chase higher profits from AI chips, which pay nearly ten times more. They shift production away from regular phone memory.
Geopolitical issues add pain. US President Donald Trump’s war in West Asia disrupts supply chains. Conflicts with Iran, US, and Israel raise shipping costs for brands.
Analysts warn of more hikes soon. Brands may cut RAM in phones from 16GB to 8GB or 12GB to save money. Indian shoppers feel the pinch in a market once full of deals.
Consumers now think twice before upgrading. Repairs grow as a cheap fix. This shake-up tests India’s huge smartphone market.
