OnePlus (一加) exec says smartphone memory costs have surged more than 400% — “it’s gone crazy”; no firm can escape the hit

Executive warning

Li Jie (李杰), president of OnePlus’s China unit, again sounded the alarm on memory-price inflation, saying the current round of smartphone memory cost increases exceeds 400% and “you could say it’s gone crazy.” He added that the spike is industry‑wide — differences between brands are largely about inventory timing, not immunity — and that prices look set to keep rising in the near term. OnePlus (一加) is a mainstream Chinese smartphone maker whose cost comments signal pressure on margins across the market.

Industry ripple effects

It has been reported that the surge has created a “golden period” for the storage industry: demand is outpacing supply and major suppliers are tightening allocations. Samsung Electronics is reportedly close to selling out its storage-chip output for next year, and some customers are said to be signing long-term supply deals — even multi‑year arrangements stretching toward 2030. Honor (荣耀) executive Lin Lin (林林) warned that different vendors will react differently — some will accept losses to chase share, others have historically high margins — and he said storage prices could stay elevated into late 2027 or 2028. It has also been reported that price pressure is spilling into PC components, with rumors of 10–15% increases for Intel and AMD CPUs.

Outlook and geopolitical context

Why is this happening now? A tight global memory market, surging demand from data centers and AI applications, and a supply base concentrated in a few major producers are all factors. Geopolitical trade policies and export controls add another layer of uncertainty for supply chains, complicating sourcing and long-term planning for Chinese handset makers. The immediate implications are clear: smartphone makers face shrinking margins or higher retail prices. How long consumers will tolerate that — and how long vendors can absorb the pain to defend share — remain open questions.