Are you waiting for the releases at the end of the year or the beginning of next year to buy a high-end smartphone? This is not necessarily the best strategy. Everything suggests that the price of the next generation of premium phones will increase. The reason is the cost of the processors that will power them. We’ll explain why and tell you what solution you have left.
Every year, brands present new smartphones, ever more powerful, ever more durable, ever more intelligent. New features often concern the screen, battery, photo sensors, chassis materials, but above all the “SoC”acronym for System on a Chip. In this component, you find a large part of the technologies that make the phone come to life: CPU, GPU, NPU, DSP, ISP, modem, etc. He is the brain of the smartphone. Literally and figuratively.
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Over time, the price of this component has increased significantly, particularly the models that equip high-end smartphones. A trend that does not only affect Qualcommbut also its main competitor MediaTek. So much so that the SoC has become the number one expense item for smartphone manufacturers, ahead of the screen or the battery. And this will continue to rise with the next generation of high-end smartphones, according to recent rumors.
The price of the main component of smartphones will increase sharply
Chinese leaker Digital Chat Station claimed on social networks that the price of the next premium SoCs from Qualcomm and MediaTek will increase by 20%. The cause of this increase is the rise in production prices of SoCs, which are produced by TSMC. This expected increase will obviously have an impact on the price of the next high-end phones. We are obviously talking about the future OnePlus 13, Xiaomi 15, Find X8 Pro d’Oppo, Galaxy S25 de Samsung and many other standard bearers.
Manufacturers will then have three strategic choices. Either increase the price of their smartphones to maintain margins, which are used to pay for communication campaigns as well as to invest in research and development and to finance the operation of the company, with the risk that a competitor is less expensive for the same experience . Either absorb the additional cost of the component by cutting back on their margins in order to remain competitive, with the risk of financially endangering the company. Either make concessions on the technical sheet. Which means a degraded experience.
What if you chose a smartphone released in 2024 in 2025?
For you, as a consumer, this news is bad. Either future smartphones will be better, but much more expensive. Either they will be just as expensive, but less good. What are the alternatives? There is a simple one: cut back on models already released. High-end smartphones of 2024 will remain a very good investment in 2025. Especially since they will very logically see their selling prices drop as soon as their successors are marketed. OnePlus 12, Xiaomi 14, Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, Motorola Razr 50 Ultra, Pixel 9 Pro XL, or even Honor Magic6 Pro: here are some of the smartphones that we really liked this year and that we continue to recommend to you for the months to come future.
