Those among us who wait for 2026 to bring along some flagships (both exotic and mainstream) like:
Galaxy S26 Ultra
Vivo X300 Ultra
Xiaomi 17 Ultra
Oppo Find X9 Ultra
… well, we could end up paying more than expected for those. That's a dark prediction, I know, but it's not out of the question for this scenario to play out in 2026.
20-30% more expensive?
The Xiaomi 15 Ultra for reference. | Image by PhoneArena
The pretty much reliable Far East tipster Digital Chat Station recently shared this (it's machine translated):
The price increase of memory is more serious than everyone thinks. It will be gradually passed on to the consumer end from the supply chain. In the future, we will see that products with large storage capacity will become more and more expensive. [...] A few months ago, I said that memory prices were rising, and the recent wave of new phones has confirmed this. LPDDR5X (RAM) is currently showing a significant upward trend. The industry predicts that the memory price of new flagships next year will increase by 20-30% year-on-year.
– Digital Chat Station account on Weibo, October 2025
For reference, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra launched in Europe for ~$1,740, and a 25% price hike on top of that sends us somewhere north of $2,170 for the next Ultra (potentially). Which is not fun at all.
Recommended For You
But why?
Xiaomi said that rising memory chip prices have pushed up the cost of making smartphones, Reuters reports.
The company recently released their new Redmi K90 series. Xiaomi president Lu Weibing wrote on Weibo that the surge in memory costs has forced higher pricing for new models and warned that costs could climb further.
The Redmi K90 launched Thursday with a base configuration of 12 GB RAM and 256 GB storage, priced at 2,599 yuan (~$364), slightly higher than the 2,499 yuan starting price of last year's K80. Lu acknowledged consumer concerns over pricing differences between configurations and said Xiaomi would reduce the price of the most popular 12 GB/512 GB model by 300 yuan to 2,899 yuan during the first month of sales.
The spike in memory prices comes amid a global scramble for chips for AI applications, which has tightened supply of standard smartphone, PC, and server chips, driving costs up.
So, maybe get a new flagship now?
I can't tell with certainty whether 2026 flagships will all be 20-30% more expensive, so don't rush to get a 2025 phone only to find out this tipster's predictions don't turn out to be true. If you need a phone right now, there are plenty of models to choose from.
OnePlus 15 is hours away: here's all you need to know about The King
I can give you a great piece of advice, though: flagship or no, ask for a pay rise in 2025 – because 2026 is going to be wild.
Are you ready to pay 20-30% more for a flagship in 2026?
87 Votes
Yes, I'm loaded with cash.
8.05%
Yes, but only if the new model is a true upgrade.
13.79%
Maybe, but only if I have the money to spend.
8.05%
Hell no.
70.11%
Free Galaxy A17 5G with Straight Talk
Get a free Galaxy A17 with Straight Talk. To claim this deal, you need to pair the phone with activation on a Silver Unlimited Plan or higher. This tier costs $45 per month. Offer valid through 01/10/27 while supplies last online.
Sebastian is one of PhoneArena’s senior opinionators. A veteran news writer with almost 20 years of experience in media and technology, he not only covers all the hot news about Galaxies and iPhones, but often provides hot takes on industry trends. He’s fascinated with camera-focused flagships from the likes of Oppo and Vivo, as well as foldable phones.
A discussion is a place, where people can voice their opinion, no matter if it
is positive, neutral or negative. However, when posting, one must stay true to the topic, and not just share some
random thoughts, which are not directly related to the matter.
Things that are NOT allowed:
Off-topic talk - you must stick to the subject of discussion
Offensive, hate speech - if you want to say something, say it politely
Spam/Advertisements - these posts are deleted
Multiple accounts - one person can have only one account
Impersonations and offensive nicknames - these accounts get banned
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts:
New accounts created within the last 24 hours may experience restrictions on how frequently they can
post or comment.
These limits are in place as a precaution and will automatically lift.
Moderation is done by humans. We try to be as objective as possible and moderate with zero bias. If you think a
post should be moderated - please, report it.
Have a question about the rules or why you have been moderated/limited/banned? Please,
contact us.
Things that are NOT allowed:
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts: