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On April 3, 2026, Xiaomi Group released the "Notice on Adjusting the Recommended Retail Prices of Some Products of Xiaomi and REDMI". The announcement stated that due to the continuous and significant increase in the prices of key components such as global memory chips, the company has decided to adjust the recommended retail prices of some products currently on sale starting from 0:00 on April 11, 2026. This adjustment involves three REDMI models: The recommended retail price of REDMI K90 Pro Max has been increased by 200 yuan; the special New Year discount prices of REDMI Turbo 5 and Turbo 5 Max have been cancelled and restored to the original prices, but the 512GB large memory version will continue to enjoy a 200-yuan subsidy.
After the release of this statement, Xiaomi made an official response. The general manager of Xiaomi's China region marketing department, Wei Sizhi, said that the company has been doing its best to mitigate the impact of memory price hikes on terminal prices, but this round of price increase and its magnitude have far exceeded expectations. To ensure the normal supply of products and stable quality, price adjustments have been necessary. And it was clearly stated that efforts will be made to limit the impact of memory price hikes to as few models as possible.
Liu Weibing, a partner and president of Xiaomi Group, disclosed the specific cost pressures on social media, stating that the price of the same version of memory has soared nearly fourfold compared to the first quarter of 2025. For instance, the price of the 12GB + 512GB storage module has increased by approximately 1,500 yuan. He further explained that, taking a 12GB + 256GB storage module as an example, its price has risen from about 30 US dollars at the low point to approximately 120 US dollars at present. The proportion of storage chips in the overall material cost (BOM) of mobile phones has risen from the previous 10%-15% to the current 30%-40%, which has a particularly significant impact on the product line that emphasizes cost performance.
This price adjustment move is traceable within the industry. Before Xiaomi, many mainstream domestic mobile phone manufacturers had already announced price hikes. OPPO began adjusting the prices of some products on March 16; Vivo adjusted the suggested retail prices of some products starting from March 18; Honor's new folding-screen flagship Magic V6, which was released on March 10, raised the prices of its 16GB + 512GB and 16GB + 1TB versions by 1,000 yuan compared to the previous generation products with the same configuration.
Lu Weibing stated at the earnings call in late March that he understood the price hikes by competitors and admitted, "If we really can't hold out, we might also have to raise prices." Judging from Xiaomi's current price adjustment actions, compared with those of other mobile phone brands, Xiaomi shows the characteristics of delaying the price increase, having a smaller increase range, and involving fewer model types.
The current global surge in storage chip prices is primarily due to the strong demand generated by the construction of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers. Over the past year, major global technology giants have continuously invested in large model training, resulting in a significant increase in the demand for high-performance storage chips. Major storage chip manufacturers such as Samsung, Micron, and SK Hynix have shifted more than 70% of their advanced production lines to produce AI-specific chips, which have led to a severe squeeze on the supply of storage chips used in consumer electronics (such as mobile phones). Moreover, due to the size and manufacturing complexity of AI chips, they consume more production line resources, further exacerbating the supply shortage of mobile phone chips.
Market research firm TrendForce predicts that in the second quarter of 2026, the contract price of general-purpose DRAM will increase by 58% to 63% compared to the previous quarter, and the contract price of NAND Flash will rise by 70% to 75% compared to the previous quarter. Industry analysis indicates that the construction cycle of storage chip production capacity is relatively long, and expansion usually takes 1 to 2 years. Moreover, the continuous investment of global technology giants in AI and the construction cycle of data centers will extend until 2026 or even 2027. The "siphoning effect" of high-end storage chips is expected to persist for a long time.
