On September 1st, multiple smartphone brands including Huawei, Xiaomi, and Honor announced price increases on their products, with hikes ranging from ¥200 to ¥1,000.
Among them, the entire Huawei Mate 80 series saw a uniform price bump of ¥800. The 12GB+256GB model jumped from ¥4,699 to ¥5,499, marking a price surge of over 17%. The 12GB+512GB variant went from ¥5,199 to ¥5,999, while the 16GB+512GB version climbed from ¥5,499 to ¥6,299.
The HuaweiMate 80 Pro saw an even steeper increase of ¥1,000 across all versions. The 16GB+512GB model went up from ¥6,999 to ¥7,999, a rise of over 14%, and the 16GB+1TB version climbed from ¥7,999 to ¥8,999. The Mate 80 Pro Max also jumped ¥1,000, now retailing at ¥8,999 for the 16GB+512GB model and ¥9,999 for the 16GB+1TB variant.
Huawei’s Enjoy 90 Pro Max saw a more modest ¥200 increase, with the 128GB model rising from ¥1,699 to ¥1,899, the 256GB version going from ¥1,999 to ¥2,199, and the 512GB edition moving up from ¥2,399 to ¥2,599.
On the same day,Xiaomi also adjusted its pricing, covering the Xiaomi 17 series, the REDMI K90 series, and the Turbo 5 Max model.Specifically, theXiaomi 17 saw its starting price rise by ¥300, from ¥4,799 to ¥5,099. The Xiaomi 17 Pro also increased by ¥300, now starting at ¥5,699 instead of ¥5,399. The premium Xiaomi 17 Pro Max got a larger ¥500 bump, moving from ¥6,499 to ¥6,999. The REDMI Turbo 5 Max also went up by ¥200, with its starting price rising from ¥2,799 to ¥2,999.
Over at Honor, the Power2 saw its two variants rise by ¥500 and ¥600 respectively, now priced at ¥3,199 and ¥3,599. The Honor Magic8 series saw increases ranging from ¥300 to ¥500 across its versions, with new prices spanning from ¥4,799 to ¥5,999.
Addressing the price surge, Huawei’s customer service explained that due to adjustments in the market prices of key materials and rising product costs, they had to adjust the corresponding selling prices. Xiaomi’s support team echoed this, stating that the sustained increase in procurement costs for core components prompted them to make appropriate adjustments to retail prices. Meanwhile, Honor’s customer service noted that product pricing and promotions are adjusted based on market demand, and after a comprehensive evaluation, they made these price changes.
This isn’t an isolated incident — phone makers have been adjusting prices throughout the year. Back in March, OPPO became the first brand to officially announce price hikes, raising prices across its A series, K series, and select OnePlus models.
Then in June, Apple announced a global price increase for its entire Mac and iPad lineup. On July 18th, Apple followed up by raising prices on its iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods lines in Japan, with the top-tier iPhone 17 Pro Max storage version jumping from ¥329,800 JPY to ¥354,800 JPY — a ¥25,000 JPY increase.
In July, as reported by CCTV Finance, during the peak summer shopping season, major brands like vivo and OPPO raised prices on several new and existing models. Specifically, vivo’s iQOO 15 and iQOO 15 Ultra saw across-the-board increases, with the standard version alone rising ¥400-¥1,000. The top-tier 16GB+1TB configuration of the iQOO 15 standard version accumulated a total increase of ¥1,500 compared to its launch price. OPPO’s Find N6 foldable also saw its starting price jump ¥1,000 from the previous generation, with the 12GB+256GB model priced at ¥9,999, the 16GB+512GB at ¥10,999, and the 16GB+1TB version hitting a hefty ¥11,999.
The direct trigger for these price adjustments across the phone market?The skyrocketing cost of memory chips. Because of the massive computing power demands from AI servers, the three major memory manufacturers — Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron — have shifted 70% to 90% of their advanced production capacity toward the more profitable HBM (High Bandwidth Memory). This has put a persistent squeeze on consumer-grade DRAM and NAND flash production, widening the supply-demand gap and driving prices up — and that cost is now being passed down to smartphones.
According to Blue Whale News, since the beginning of the year, DRAM contract prices have surged by over 340%, while NAND flash prices have climbed more than 320%. A single 12GB LPDDR5X memory module needed for a flagship phone has jumped from $77 to $146. Meanwhile, the cost of a 1TB flash storage chip has skyrocketed from around ¥200 to nearly ¥600. Memory chips, which used to account for just 10%-15% of a phone’s total material cost, now make up over 30% — and in some high-end models, that figure is approaching 50%.
Executives at Huawei and Xiaomi had actually predicted this wave of price hikes.On August 5th, Richard Yu, Huawei’s Executive Director and Chairman of the Consumer Business Group, stated at a new product launch event that with memory prices soaring, all phones would likely need to undergo large-scale price increases in the future — otherwise, selling at current prices would simply mean selling at a loss.Xiaomi Group President Lu Weibingalso mentioned during a livestream on May 16ththat in the second half of the year, especially toward the end, some domestic flagship phones could very well break the ¥10,000 price barrier.
The impact of these price hikes on the consumer smartphone market is already becoming apparent. According to IDC data, in the first half of 2026, cumulative smartphone shipments in China totaled approximately 134 million units, a year-on-year decline of 4.2%. Q1 2026 saw shipments of around 69.04 million units, down 3.3% year-on-year. Q2 followed with 66.01 million units, a 4.3% drop — marking the fifth consecutive quarter of year-on-year decline, reflecting overall weak market demand.
In response to these new market challenges, somephone manufacturers have startedpivoting to overseas markets and undergoing business transformation.In July of this year, OPPO announced that its realme sub-brand would focus on overseas markets, pausing product updates in China.
Back in February, Meizu also announced that amid intense market competition and continually rising memory prices, the company would suspend new phone releases in the domestic market. At the same time, its overseas phone business, AI eyewear, and PANDAER tech-lifestyle brand would begin market-oriented operations. The company is shifting from a hardware-centric model to an AI-driven software product-focused direction.
