This week at Mobile World Congress, I was able to sit down and chat with Chris Patrick, Qualcomm’s SVP and General Manager, Mobile Handset. Essentially, he has his hands in almost every device that launches with Snapdragon chips, specifically the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 5.
We talked about a number of things, but one issue that I thought was the most interesting was his take on how partners are dealing with RAM prices.
While we’ve heard from some OEMs that they are trying to find the balance between lowering RAM and keeping prices the same, or keeping the same amount of RAM and raising prices, Patrick sees things a bit differently.
He sees OEMs trimming excess RAM. Now what does that mean? Well, sometimes we see budget and mid-range devices launching with 12GB of RAM, which is way more than needed. So we will likely see those devices launching with less RAM, in an effort to keep BOM (Bill of Materials) down. But also looking to avoid cuts that would harm functionality and performance.
Qualcomm says partners are rebalancing device component mixes, like camera sensors, memory, and SoC, to help manage costs, which might be why we’re seeing more devices launching with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 versus the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. Of course, Qualcomm won’t talk chip pricing, but it’s pretty obvious which one is more expensive.
Some OEMs are shifting their roadmap, focusing on more sub-flagships
Patrick also mentioned that some OEMs are shifting their roadmap to give more attention to sub-flagships and also changing up their release cadence. Updating their sub-flagship offerings more often than their premium flagship options, in an effort to offer choices at stable price points.
Because let’s face it, RAM and flash storage aren’t the only things going up in price. Inflation is hitting every aspect of the smartphone and every aspect of our daily lives.
Let’s take a minute to explain what a “sub-flagship” actually is. Think of this as a flagship, but not the company’s top-tier offering. Like the OnePlus 15R or the Xiaomi 15T. Still great devices, powerful devices, but not the best of the best.
With this RAM and flash storage pricing being affected by AI, there’s a strong chance that we’re going to see cheap phones get even better. Which we’ve kind of already seen here in the US with the Galaxy A17, the Moto G 2026 series, and even the OnePlus 15R which is a bit more expensive than the others I mentioned here, but still pretty affordable.
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