Huawei May Have to Raise Smartphone Prices as Memory Costs Surge

The global smartphone industry is facing growing cost pressures, with rapidly rising memory component prices becoming an increasingly important factor in smartphone pricing.

On October 6, Huawei's overseas official account released details from a September 29 roundtable discussion between Huawei Executive Director and Terminal BG Chairman Richard Yu Chengdong and international media. During the discussion, Yu addressed the sharp increase in memory component prices and said the higher costs had added more than$200 in hardware costs to each Huawei smartphone. Because Huawei devices generally use relatively high memory configurations, the impact on the company has been particularly significant.

Yu described the situation as a major challenge for the entire smartphone industry.

He said many smartphone manufacturers have already begun raising prices, while Huawei has been moving more slowly in an effort to absorb part of the additional costs itself and reduce the burden on consumers.

However, that strategy is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain.

According to Yu, the sharp increase in memory component prices has caused Huawei's overall profit margins to fall significantly. Looking ahead, the company will also have to consider raising product prices because continuing to operate at a loss would not be sustainable.

His comments represent one of the clearest indications yet that Huawei may raise smartphone prices further as component costs continue to climb.

Huawei had already warned consumers about this possibility earlier this year.

At the launch of the Huawei Pura 90 series in April, Yu said that the company was under significant pricing pressure because the cost of key components, including memory and chips, had increased substantially.

Despite those higher costs, Huawei initially kept the starting price of the Pura 90 series unchanged. The Pura 90 started at 4,699 yuan, while the Pura 90 Pro and Pura 90 Pro Max started at 5,499 yuan and 6,499 yuan, respectively.

At the time, Yu said that if costs became impossible for the company to absorb, prices could eventually rise.

The situation has since become more serious as memory costs have continued to rise.

Memory is one of the key components in modern smartphones, and its price directly affects manufacturing costs. At the same time, the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence infrastructure has increased demand for memory and advanced semiconductor capacity, putting additional pressure on consumer electronics manufacturers.

Several major smartphone brands in China, including OPPO, vivo, Xiaomi and Honor, have already adjusted prices for certain products this year. The industry is therefore moving toward a new pricing environment in which manufacturers have less room to absorb rising component costs themselves.

Yu also noted that higher smartphone prices could put additional pressure on the low-end market and encourage manufacturers to focus more heavily on mid-range and premium products.

For Huawei, the premium segment remains a major area of strength. Yu said the company remains confident about competing in the market and continuing to offer consumers better products, experiences and services.

The broader significance of the situation extends beyond Huawei.

For years, smartphone manufacturers competed aggressively on processors, cameras, displays, memory capacity and other hardware specifications. But the rapid growth of AI-related demand is changing the economics of the semiconductor supply chain.

If memory prices remain elevated for an extended period, manufacturers will have to find a new balance between product specifications, profit margins and retail prices.

For consumers, that could mean that increasingly expensive smartphones become a more common reality.

For Huawei, meanwhile, Yu's latest comments are more than a simple warning about higher prices. They show that even a major premium smartphone manufacturer may have limited ability to absorb supply-chain cost increases indefinitely.

How much smartphone prices ultimately rise will depend on memory prices, semiconductor supply and overall consumer demand.

But one thing is becoming increasingly clear: rising hardware costs are pushing the smartphone industry into a new pricing cycle, and consumers may soon have to pay more for the same level of hardware specifications.