According to a report from South Korea, Samsung Electronics is considering an additional price increase of between 7% and 10% for the mobile DRAM and NAND chips it supplies to Apple and other smartphone manufacturers. The increase, which has come onto the agenda amid the ongoing memory shortage caused by high demand for artificial intelligence, could be reflected in phone prices.
Samsung’s mobile device division is also unable to purchase chips from its semiconductor division with special discounts or preferential pricing. While it remains unclear when pricing pressure in the memory market will ease, tablets and smartwatches could reportedly also be affected by the increase.
Why it matters
Because mobile memory is a cost component not only for phones but also for tablets and smartwatches, pricing pressure may not be limited to a single brand or product group. The fact that Samsung’s device division cannot benefit from preferential internal pricing shows that conditions in the semiconductor business are being applied similarly even to the group’s own products. This raises the question of how much manufacturers that purchase DRAM and NAND from Samsung, including Apple, will absorb the higher costs and how much they will pass on to retail prices. However, because the cited South Korean report’s name, details and verification method have not been disclosed, it remains unclear whether the proposed increase has been finalized and how long the pressure in the memory market will continue.