Don’t expect major discounts on smartphones during this year’s sale: Nothing CEO suggests the best time to upgrade is ‘Now’

At the beginning of this year, Nothing CEO Carl Pei suggested that in 2026, smartphones will see an increase in pricing due to the rising memory costs. He mentioned that for the first time, smartphones are competing directly with AI infrastructure and memory prices are rising sharply as a result.

Well, the prediction turned out to be true as we did see a rise in the smartphone prices in the past few months. This is not it; the CEO has now warned the users via his X post that the phone prices will continue going up into next year.

He shared that memory is now the most expensive component in a smartphone, surpassing the processor and display, accounting for more than 50% of the total hardware bill. Talking about the Phone (4a), the CEO revealed that memory costs doubled between when the device was decided to be built and when it launched.

Since February 2026, new phones are said to have launched at up to $100 more expensive than their predecessors, while in India, phones above Rs 30K have seen price jumps of Rs 7,00 or more.

Further, he also suggested that for users who are waiting to upgrade a device, the best time was yesterday, and the next best time is now, as in a shortage, memory is allocated, not brought, and you get what you are given at the current price. Apart from this, it was also said that due to this ongoing situation, this year’s sale season won’t have the discounts people are used to.

Well, with this warning from Nothing CEO, it appears that the consumers waiting for discounts and offers in the upcoming sales may have to face disappointment.