Abstract:
According to the blogger Digital Chat Station, the current purchase price of the 12+256GB memory combination is about 2,200 yuan, which was only 500 yuan in the same period last year, an increase of 1,700 yuan.
For comparison, the current purchase price of the latest generation flagship chip is about 2,000 yuan, which was about 1,500 yuan in the same period last year, an increase of 500 yuan.
In the past, mobile phone SoC was the absolute cost driver, but now it has been surpassed, and storage has become the highest cost item in mobile phones.
Currently, cost pressure has been transmitted to the consumer side, and many manufacturers have begun to adjust product strategies, either increasing terminal prices or reducing the supply of large memory versions.
Some entry-level models even return to the basic configuration of 6/8+128GB to control the production cost of the entire machine.
Previous reports have estimated that the cost of large-capacity storage models has increased even more significantly. The material cost of the soon-to-be-released 1TB iPhone 18 Pro Max has increased by nearly US$300 compared to last year's model with the same capacity.
The main reason behind this round of price increases is the surge in demand for memory and storage chips in the AI industry, which has led to tight supply and rising prices for related chips.
Industry analysis shows that the release of new production capacity from the three major storage manufacturers is slow, and the tight supply of DRAM will continue until at least 2027. The high cost of mobile phone storage will be difficult to completely alleviate in the short term.
Domestic mobile phone manufacturers are also actively promoting supply chain diversification and increasing the proportion of domestic storage such as Yangtze Memory to hedge against the operating pressure caused by rising overseas particle prices.
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