AI ends era of cheap smartphones, India sees highest price rise
· Scroll
Visit asg-reflektory.pl for more information.
This article was originally published in Rest of World, which covers technology’s impact outside the West.
The world’s cheapest smartphones are disappearing because AI infrastructure is absorbing the components.
Prices of existing smartphone models have risen by about 15% globally this year, while newly launched models are roughly 25% more expensive than last year. A global memory chip shortage, driven by demand from AI data centers, is pushing up the cost of making smartphones.
Chinese smartphone makers – which have championed affordable, feature-rich devices and account for approximately 60% of all smartphones shipped globally – have “drastically reduced” their entry-level projects this year as memory-chip costs have risen, Ivan Lam, senior analyst at research firm Counterpoint, told Rest of World. They are instead prioritising more profitable premium devices.
The smartphone price increases vary sharply by region: They have risen by 21% in India, 19% across Asia-Pacific, and 18% in the Middle East and Africa. In the US, they have gone up by just 5%.
(function(){function e(){window.addEventListener(`message`,function(e){if(e.data[`datawrapper-height`]!==void 0){var t=document.querySelectorAll(`iframe`);for(var n in e.data[`datawrapper-height`])for(var r=0,i;i=t[r];r++)if(i.contentWindow===e.source){var a=e.data[`datawrapper-height`][n]+`px`;i.style.height=a}}})}e()})();The shift could affect more than consumers looking for cheaper phones. For people who have yet to buy their first smartphone, higher prices could make it harder to get online...