China's Consumer Electronics Prices Rise as AI Demand Squeezes Memory Chip Supply

Jiemian News reported that Huawei, Xiaomi, Honor and other phone brands have raised prices on existing models since September 1, while HP and Asus have also increased notebook prices, with some products up nearly 30% this year. New flagship launches from Huawei and Xiaomi on September 7 were priced higher, and Apple’s new iPhone, due two days later, is also widely expected to cost more. At Xiaomi stores in Beijing, staff said the K series had already risen by about 200 to 300 yuan in late August, while the Xiaomi 17 series is now about 200 to 500 yuan higher than launch prices and 600 to 1,000 yuan higher cumulatively. Huawei’s Mate 80 series was also repriced from September 1, with the Pro and Pro Max versions up 1,000 yuan each; the Mate 80 Pro Max 16GB+1TB model rose from 8,999 yuan to 9,999 yuan. Jiemian News said the increases have also spread to second-hand markets, where some popular devices are up 100 to 500 yuan. The report said the main driver is surging AI demand for high-bandwidth memory and other advanced chips, which is pulling capacity away from consumer electronics. It cited industry sources saying Samsung, Micron and SK Hynix’s DRAM and HBM capacity for 2027 is already allocated, while Micron said its 2026 HBM output is largely sold out and tied up in long-term contracts with major AI customers. That has tightened supply of DDR and LPDDR memory used in phones and PCs, with one source saying common DDR prices have risen five to six times. Jiemian News also noted that Micron’s Idaho plant, announced in 2022 with a $15 billion investment, is now expected to start operations in 2027, two years later than planned, while its New York fab, budgeted at $100 billion, only broke ground on January 16 and is not expected to begin production until 2030. The article said new capacity will likely continue to favor HBM, leaving limited room for consumer memory supply, and that lower-end phones and PCs are being hit hardest because memory and other core components cannot be cut much further.