Mobile phone price hikes roll out; low-end models’ price increases are unable to offset the sudden surge in costs, and some supply-chain capacity shifts toward home furnishings and wearables.

A reporter recently visited multiple brand retail stores and learned that, under the impact of a sharp surge in upstream memory prices, the previously circulating expectation of “phone price increases” has begun to materialize. In addition to OPPO, vivo, and others that have already issued price-adjustment statements, other brands also have plans or expectations to raise prices. Overall, the price increase for each brand’s low-end models ranges from 200 to 500 yuan, while the new high-end model price increase is around 1,000 yuan. However, some low-end models have not seen price increases. Industry insiders say that, for some low-end models, the current price increase is less than the increase in costs. For manufacturers that mainly offer mid- to low-end products, the situation remains difficult, and in the short term they may face losses. With storage chip prices soaring, on the one hand mobile phone manufacturers are changing their inventory procurement strategies; on the other hand, they have shifted their strategic focus to high unit-price products. Meanwhile, upstream component suppliers have begun moving resources to other production lines with lower storage demand, such as wearables and home devices. (China Securities Journal)