During the festive season, until a few days ago, there were thousands of discount offers on online and offline purchases. You could buy your favourite handset at an attractive price at a discount of 50-60 percent. If you have not bought it, you may have to bite your hand. Because the price of DRAM and NAND flash memory has increased significantly in the Chinese market, the price of smartphones made by Chinese companies is going to increase quite a bit in the coming days. Experts claim that the price of handsets can increase by up to 25 percent in the near future due to the depreciation of the rupee against the dollar. Retail traders are already worried about the increase in the price of smartphones in the country. The price of smartphone models made by several companies has increased by around Rs 1,500. On the other hand, the prices of some models have increased to Rs 1,000-2,000.
According to the All India Mobile Retailers Association (AIMRA), the shortage of memory and storage chips across the globe has created a severe crisis in the smartphone industry.
Kailash Lakhiani, chairman of the association, said that the prices of NAND flash, drums and SSDs have been steadily increasing since August. As a result, the pressure on the pockets of the buyers is increasing.
Experts say that this trend of increasing the price of smartphones will continue till the end of next year.
Francis Wong, Chief Marketing Officer, Realme India, said, "The smartphone industry is facing a new challenge this year due to the continuous increase in the prices of storage components. As a Make in India brand, we believe India’s growing electronics ecosystem is a strong foundation for future resilience."
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The impact is not only on premium phones, but also on mid-priced phones. He further said that the use of artificial intelligence has now created a huge demand for high-performance memory. The memory chip that was previously used in smartphones is now moving to generative AI models and data centres. As a result, manufacturers have to rethink their strategies for production, pricing and technology innovation.
In such a situation, AIMRA has warned that the sudden and consistent price hike of smartphone components can hurt the digital economy of the country. Therefore, they have urged the government to immediately reduce the GST rate on mobile phones from the current 18 percent to 5 percent.
