In September 2026, the mobile phone industry experienced an unprecedented super launch week.

Huawei unveiled its triple-fold phone, Xiaomi introduced its mid-fold model, and Apple debuted its first foldable iPhone Duo, injecting exceptional vitality into the foldable screen segment.

However, a problem has caught the attention of many consumers: mobile phone prices are on the rise again.

01 Price Increases Extend Beyond Foldable Phones

On September 1, the domestic smartphone market underwent a new round of centralized price adjustments. Several mainstream Chinese brands, including Huawei, Xiaomi, and Honor, simultaneously raised the prices of various models, with increases ranging from 200 to 1000 yuan.

The entire Huawei Mate 80 Pro series saw a price hike of 1000 yuan, with the 12GB+256GB version jumping from 5999 yuan to 6999 yuan. Similarly, the entire Huawei Mate 80 series increased by 800 yuan, with the 12GB+256GB version rising from 4699 yuan to 5499 yuan.

The Xiaomi 17 series witnessed price increases of 300 to 500 yuan across the board, with the starting price of the Xiaomi 17 climbing from 4799 yuan to 5099 yuan.

The Honor Power2 series saw a uniform price increase of 500 yuan, while the flagship Magic8 series experienced increases of 300 to 500 yuan.

IDC forecasts that global smartphone shipments in 2026 will slightly exceed 1 billion units, marking a 16.7% year-on-year decline. Despite the shrinking market, prices are heading in the opposite direction. A commonly cited reason for this trend is the rising cost of memory.

02 How Does AI Impact Mobile Phone Memory Consumption?

The training and inference processes for large AI models demand substantial storage resources.

A single AI server consumes 8 to 10 times more DRAM than a traditional server and about 3 times more NAND. In 2026, global AI server shipments surged by approximately 180% year-on-year, with AI servers accounting for 53% of the total global storage demand.

In essence, more than half of the world's storage chips are now being utilized by AI servers.

According to TrendForce, in the first quarter of 2026, contract prices for general-purpose DRAM skyrocketed by 90% to 95% quarter-on-quarter, while NAND flash contract prices rose by 55% to 60%, both reaching all-time highs.

Even more remarkable is the cost per unit: the 16GB DRAM used in a smartphone cost around $42 in the second quarter of 2025 but soared to approximately $181 a year later, representing an increase of over 300%.

The three major memory giants—Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron—have redirected 70% to 90% of their advanced production capacity towards higher-margin HBM (High Bandwidth Memory) and server-grade DRAM.

Consequently, the supply of standard DRAM and NAND flash remains constrained.

Although ChangXin Memory Technologies has achieved mass production of LPDDR6, with the Xiaomi 18 Fold being the first flagship smartphone globally to commercially adopt LPDDR6, the overall supply gap is challenging to bridge in the short term.

While ordinary consumers have yet to reap the benefits of AI, the cost associated with it has already arrived.

03 The Dilemma Facing Phone Manufacturers

Memory chips are essential components of smartphones, and rising costs directly squeeze profit margins. However, with fierce market competition, price hikes risk alienating price-sensitive users.

As a result, manufacturers have intensified their promotion of high-end products like foldable phones to counterbalance cost pressures.

On September 7, Huawei released the Mate XT 2 triple-fold phone, with a starting price of 19,999 yuan. The Xiaomi 18 Fold mid-fold phone debuted at 10,999 yuan, marking Xiaomi's first smartphone to surpass the 10,000 yuan starting price threshold.

Just this morning, Apple officially unveiled its first foldable phone, the iPhone Duo, at its autumn event. The Chinese version starts at 15,999 yuan for the 256GB model and goes up to 26,499 yuan for the top-tier 2TB version, making it the most expensive iPhone in Apple's history.

Foldable phones have emerged as a safe haven for manufacturers to sustain profits.

04 How Should Consumers Approach This Situation?

While AI is often blamed for the price hikes, what truly matters to consumers is whether the additional cost is justified.

Price increases for memory chips are cyclical, but the uniqueness of this round lies in the structural demand growth driven by AI, which is unlikely to subside in the short term.

As early as February 2026, the Price Monitoring Center of the National Development and Reform Commission highlighted that the sustained rise in memory chip prices, fueled by increased demand for high-end storage due to AI computing growth, tight capacity, and downstream panic buying, was being passed down the supply chain.

This suggests that mobile phone prices may remain elevated for some time.

For ordinary consumers, if your current phone is still functional, there's no urgency to upgrade. If an upgrade is necessary, pay attention to manufacturers' trade-in and subsidy programs. At the same price point, prioritize models with higher storage configurations.

Given that memory costs are still on the rise, models with larger memory may offer better long-term value.

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