(Credit: Iyaz Akhtar)
Gadget maker Nothing says its prices will be higher for its 2026 smartphones, due to the surge in memory pricing that many tech brands are currently facing. Nothing's CEO says its rivals will likely do the same, or may choose to reduce other specs to shoulder increased costs.
Nothing CEO Carl Pei wrote a post on LinkedIn to detail how he sees the smartphone landscape in 2026. He says we can expect sharp price rises across the industry, or it may force some brands to limit spec upgrades to save money elsewhere in production.
In the post titled “Why Your Next Smartphone Will Cost More,” Pei outlined how Nothing sees a crossroad for tech brands. He says, “In some cases, memory costs have already increased by up to 3x, with further rises expected as unprecedented demand continues to swallow available supply."
“Memory is fast becoming one of the most expensive smartphone components and potentially the single largest cost driver in the bill of materials by year-end, with estimates suggesting that memory modules which cost less than $20 a year ago could exceed $100 by year-end for top-tier models.”
He also notes that other brands may introduce price hikes of up to 30% in what he refers to as a "structural shift" for the industry.
Pei says that new Nothing phones will "inevitably" cost more than previous generations, but wouldn't share the exact amount. The upcoming Phone 4a is set to feature UFS 3.1 tech for the first time on its cheaper series of devices, which is driving up Nothing's manufacturing costs.
He also says that he believes Nothing is set to be “the only real differentiator” in the smartphone market, as it has focused on user experience over chasing high-end specs. However, Nothing's rivals, including Apple, Google, and Samsung, benefit from economies of scale through smartphone production for a wider audience.
This is the clearest statement yet from a major manufacturer on smartphone price increases due to the RAM shortage.
Samsung’s co-CEO TM Roh said last week that the memory shortage will have an “inevitable” impact on prices. He didn’t outline that it would affect the Galaxy S26.
Other recent price increases due to the memory shortage include Framework's desktop PC jumping up by $500. A report from Trendforce recently showed the price of DDR4 memory kits increased by 12% in a single week.