Follow-up on storage price increase: TCL CSOT/AUO/Hisense/Honor/Xiaomi and other collective responses

Since the second half of 2025, a storage boom has swept across the global semiconductor industry chain. Different from previous cyclical rises and falls, the core driving force for this round of storage price increases comes from the explosion of demand for AI servers and high-performance computing (HPC). With the explosive growth of demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and high-performance DRAM in data centers, the supply of DRAM and NAND Flash that traditional consumer electronics rely on has been significantly squeezed, and the relationship between supply and demand has rapidly deteriorated.

According to TrendForce data, since September 2025, the cumulative increase in DRAM and NAND spot prices has exceeded 300%; entering the first quarter of 2026, NAND contract prices are expected to increase by 55%–60% quarterly, and DRAM by as high as 90%–95%. With supply difficult to release in the short term, storage shortages and price increases have been rapidly transmitted from the upstream to the terminal, becoming one of the core variables affecting the consumer electronics industry in 2026.

Against this background, the cost structure of terminal products such as mobile phones, TVs, smartphones, and laptops has been reshaped, and all links in the industry chain have begun to readjust their strategies and launch a rebalancing around "cost, demand, and profit."

Cost restructuring, storage price increases impact three major terminals

According to February research data from TrendForce, the demand for AI and data centers will continue to intensify the global memory supply and demand gap in the first quarter of 2026. The bargaining power of original manufacturers will continue to increase, and the price increases of DRAM and NAND Flash products will exceed expectations. It is estimated that the overall Conventional DRAM contract price will increase by 90-95% quarterly, and the NAND Flash contract price will increase by 55-60% quarterly.

If we look back to the second half of 2025, the cumulative extent of this round of price increases is already at a historical high. Especially in the context of the continued expansion of demand for AI servers, storage manufacturers prioritize high-profit products, further tightening the supply of consumer-grade storage, and this price increase trend is expected to continue until around 2027.

The increase in storage prices has directly changed the BOM cost structure of terminal products such as mobile phones, TVs, and laptops.

Smartphones: Taking the mainstream 8GB+256GB configuration as an example, storage prices in the first quarter of 2026 will increase by nearly 200% compared with the same period in 2025. The proportion of storage in the BOM cost has rapidly increased from about 10%-15% before the price increase to 30%-40%; this means that storage was originally only an auxiliary cost item, but now it has become one of the core factors affecting the pricing of the entire machine.

TV: The reliance on storage is relatively low, but the increase is equally significant: the proportion of storage in BOM cost has increased from about 2.5%-3% before the price increase to 6%-7%. With panels (accounting for 40%–50% of costs) already accounting for a high proportion, the doubling of storage will further compress brand profit margins.

Laptops: Becoming one of the categories most affected. The proportion of DRAM + SSD is expected to increase from about 15% to more than 30%. If the price of CPU is increased, the total BOM proportion of storage + CPU will increase from 45% to about 58%. Taking a mainstream laptop with a recommended selling price of US$900 as an example, under the premise of maintaining the profit structure of each link in the supply chain, the increase in storage prices alone may push the terminal selling price to increase by more than 30%; if the CPU price increase is added to it, the price of the entire machine will increase by even close to 40%.

Not only memory, but the cost of CPU (some platforms have increased by more than 15%), PCB, battery, power management IC and other costs have also increased simultaneously. In addition, the imbalance of supply and demand in the storage market has also led to the imbalance of upstream wafer foundry production capacity allocation. Display driver chips have also experienced supply shortages due to capacity squeeze, making the consumer electronics industry basically face rising costs across the entire chain in 2026.

Strategic differentiation, panel manufacturers and terminal brand manufacturers "collective response"

Faced with the cost impact, since the second half of 2025, all parties in the industry chain, from panel manufacturers to terminal brands such as mobile phones and TVs, have successively responded, showing the characteristics of "differentiated response" as a whole.

Panel side

TCL CSOT: The impact of storage price increases is controllable and can be hedged through business structure

Among panel manufacturers, TCL CSOT believes that storage price increases will have a certain impact on the demand and price of small-size (mobile phone) OLEDs, but the overall impact is controllable. It said that the company maintains high-end competitiveness through technological differentiation (such as Super Pixel, Real RGB Stripe) and forms a hedge through business structure: Although small sizes are under pressure, medium-size (IT, vehicle-mounted) business maintains strong growth, effectively offsetting the impact of mobile terminal products such as mobile phones from fluctuations in market demand; at the same time, large-size (TV, commercial display) business is driven by events and large-size trends, and remains stable.

AUO: Focusing on “controlling production and stabilizing prices”, we will prudently respond to cost fluctuations

AU Optronics emphasizes that it can respond to demand and cost fluctuations by dynamically adjusting capacity utilization and product mix. The overall strategy is still centered on "controlling production and stabilizing prices." AUO said that the cost of memory chips in TV and monitor panel products is very low, and the impact of this round of storage price increases is limited, so these two markets are relatively optimistic; while consumer electronics panels such as NB, PC, and smartphones are expected to maintain a relatively conservative trend due to the high proportion of storage costs in consumer electronics panels.

TV side

Hisense Video: The impact of rising storage prices on the TV field is "relatively controllable"

Hisense Video President Li Wei said on March 19 that the impact of rising memory chip prices on the TV industry is relatively controllable. This is mainly based on three logics: (1) The proportion of storage in TV BOM is still lower than that of mobile phones and laptops; (2) Panels are still the largest cost item; (3) High-end products (such as Mini LED) have the ability to command a premium.

Faced with the impact of this round of price increases, Hisense Video mainly made adjustments in the following directions: (1) optimizing product design and adjusting resources to smooth out these cost fluctuations; (2) reducing the impact through industry chain collaboration; (3) upgrading products to increase value and use better product experience to offset some cost pressures.

Mobile terminal

Compared to TVs, smartphones have been more directly affected. In response, mobile phone brands have adopted a strategy of price increases and "hidden cost reductions" (reducing equipment without increasing prices) in parallel. Among them, OPPO, OnePlus, vivo and iQOO have issued price increase notices. It is also reported that offline store clerks of Honor and Xiaomi stated that they have received price adjustment notices or expectations...

OPPO & OnePlus: Due to the increase in the cost of many key mobile phone components such as high-speed storage hardware, starting from March 16, price adjustments will be made for the A series, K series and some of the products already on sale by OnePlus.

Vivo & iQOO: Affected by the continued sharp rise in global semiconductor and storage costs, the recommended retail prices of some products will be adjusted starting from March 18.

Xiaomi: Lu Weibing, partner, president of Xiaomi Group, president of the mobile phone department, and general manager of the Xiaomi brand, responded: "I understand the price increase of our friends. It is difficult for everyone, and it is very painful for us."

Honor: CEO Li Jian said that the memory shortage is an industry problem, and the industry-wide issues must be solved by the entire industry, and admitted that this cycle is expected to last 2-3 years...

At present, overall, the public strategies of mobile phone brands mainly present three major directions: direct price increase, adjustment of configuration ("lower regulations without lowering prices"), and strengthening the proportion of high-end products. According to TrendForce's research, given that the proportion of memory in the BOM structure of mobile phones has significantly increased to 30-40%, increasing terminal selling prices seems to have become an inevitable choice to maintain operations. In the medium to long term, in order to better cope with the impact of the current surge in memory, terminal brands need to simultaneously readjust product proportions or configurations.

In terms of TVs, given that the existing cost structure can no longer support the low-price strategy of the past, it will be imperative for new products to increase prices.

Estimated overall impact on the industry: The trend of “volume reduction” is highlighted amid weak demand

Based on continuous tracking of storage supply, demand and prices, TrendForce has given prudent expectations for the three major end markets of smartphones, TVs and laptops in 2026: Affected by storage shortages and price increases, shipments in the three major end markets are under overall pressure.

On the smartphone side, under a pessimistic scenario, it is estimated that the annual decline in global mobile phone production will expand to 15% or higher this year; each brand will be affected differently due to different product structures and regional layouts. Looking specifically at brands, brands such as Xiaomi and Transsion account for a relatively high proportion of low-end models and are less tolerant of cost fluctuations. Target users are also more sensitive to price changes. It is expected that the output in 2026 will be significantly lowered. However, Huawei may be an exception. Since its primary goal is to promote the Hongmeng platform, its terminal pricing strategy is relatively flexible. It is expected that the output adjustment will be minimal, and it is even expected to grow against the trend.

On the TV side, under the influence of the simultaneous rise in the prices of memory, panels, and precious metals, TV production costs have increased, and the contradiction between brands' profitability and increasing market share has become more obvious. It is estimated that full-year TV shipments will decrease by 0.6% year-on-year to approximately 195 million units. From a profitability perspective, TV brands are under pressure as the proportion of memory in TV BOM costs has also increased. Then, when production momentum and profitability are both affected, smaller brands with fewer resources will be greatly affected.

Although the total TV shipments will be reduced, there is still a segmented product series that is growing against the trend - Mini LED backlight TV. There are two main driving factors: first, favorable policies, and second, new technologies leveraging new demands.

In terms of policy, the national subsidy policy continues to stimulate demand in the consumer market, and the conditions are limited to first-class energy-consuming products, which is a big plus for relatively high-end Mini LED TVs;

In terms of supply chain, RGB-Mini LED technology is in the ascendant. TV brands such as Hisense, Samsung, LG, Sony, TCL, Huike, Zhaochi, Philips, Changhong and other TV brands are actively promoting it, and have lowered the product size to the mainstream 55-75 inches, and the price has become more friendly to the people.

Driven by two factors, TrendForce estimates that the penetration rate of Mini LED TVs will increase to 10% in 2026, with shipments heading towards 20 million units.

On the laptop side, in addition to facing the pressure of simultaneous increases in the cost of components such as memory, CPU, PCB, battery and power management IC, it also faces a periodic supply gap for CPUs, and brand cost pressures are expanding. Shipments will decline in the first quarter of 2026, although the second quarter is expected to be driven by Intel CPU arrivals are improving, but looking at the whole year, the laptop market faces a certain degree of uncertainty in the short term. Considering supply-side bottlenecks and unclear brand strategies, it is estimated that laptop shipments will decrease by 9.4% year-on-year in 2026.

Panel market: short-term stocking increases demand and prices, but long-term pressure to reduce demand and prices

As one of the main components, panels have also been significantly affected by this round of storage price increases:

Short-term: Display driver chip production capacity shrinks; storage price increases trigger a stocking effect, and panel demand rises simultaneously with prices;

Long-term: Display driver chip production capacity is transferred to mainland China; storage prices remain high, which may affect overall panel demand;

In the short term, there is also a supply-demand gap on the supply side caused by tilted production capacity: as wafer foundries prioritize allocating production capacity to high-profit AI-related chips such as AI power management chips, display driver chips experience short-term shortages and extend the delivery cycle. On the demand side, as prices of memories and other components continue to rise, brand manufacturers generally adopt the strategy of increasing stocking in advance in order to avoid higher subsequent procurement costs, driving up panel demand and prices simultaneously.

According to the latest research data from the "TrendForce 2026 Panel Price Forecast Monthly Report", TV and monitor panel prices rose in March, while laptop panel prices stopped falling and remained stable.

Looking forward to the second quarter, it is expected that demand for TV panels will remain stable, stimulated by events and promotions such as the World Cup, 618 promotions, and North American Prime Day. At the same time, considering that the cost of memory and various components may continue to rise, brands are willing to increase stocking in advance. It is expected that panel manufacturers will also seize the opportunity of stable demand and continue to maintain the trend of rising TV panel prices.

For laptops, although the existing demand momentum was still maintained in March, with the surge in storage costs, coupled with recent CPU shortages and surge in costs, it is expected that after entering the second quarter, panel demand may be revised due to the insufficiency of all sets of materials. At the same time, panel manufacturers have become increasingly tough on maintaining panel prices as their profit margins have been squeezed. It is currently estimated that laptop panel prices will remain flat across the board in March.

In the long term, the global 8-inch wafer production capacity shows a decreasing trend, while the 12-inch wafer production capacity in mainland China continues to expand. It can be seen that the supply chain center of display driver chips will gradually shift to mainland China in the future. With the continuous release of production capacity, the supply shortage pressure of mature processes is expected to be alleviated.

On the demand side, it can be seen from the above three major terminal shipment forecasts that under the dual pressure of continued storage price increases and a weak macroeconomic environment, sluggish terminal demand will lead to a simultaneous decline in panel demand and prices. In this regard, panel manufacturers such as TCL CSOT and AUO will maintain the core of "controlling production and stabilizing prices" as a whole, and respond to demand and cost fluctuations by dynamically adjusting production capacity utilization and product structure.

Conclusion

The storage price increase starting in 2025 has affected the entire consumer electronics industry ecological chain. In the short term, the cost, demand and price sides show three major characteristics: (1) Cost side: the proportion of storage has doubled; (2) Demand side: terminal shipments have generally declined; (3) Price side: terminal price increases are inevitable;

From a longer-term perspective, this round of price increases is expected to profoundly change the operating logic of the industry: (1) promote products to high-end and differentiated upgrades; (2) accelerate the clearance of small and medium-sized brands; (3) strengthen the supply chain control capabilities of leading manufacturers;

In general, the strategic adjustments of industry chain manufacturers and terminal brands are actually looking for new balance points. In the next period of time, the core competitiveness of related industries will lie in the ability to digest cost fluctuations and the ability to optimize product structure. (Text: TrendForce Display Janice)

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