Nothing warns smartphone prices may jump in 2026 on RAM shortage

If you were waiting for a cheaper smartphone deal, Carl Pei says the clock may already have run out. The Nothing chief warned that memory costs are climbing fast, and that the company expects phone prices to keep rising through 2026 as AI data centers compete with handset makers for the same RAM and storage chips.

That pressure is no longer abstract. Nothing raised India prices of the Phone (4a) and Phone (4a) Pro effective June 1, 2026, marking the second increase in as many months. The standard Phone (4a), which launched at Rs 31,999 in March 2026, climbed to Rs 37,999. The Phone (4a) Pro, which started at Rs 39,999, rose by Rs 10,000 to a base price of Rs 49,999.

Pei has been blunt about the cost squeeze. In January 2026, he said Nothing would raise prices across its smartphone portfolio and argued that RAM and storage had become two of the biggest cost drivers after years of falling prices. He said some products launching in the first quarter of 2026 would move to faster UFS 3.1 storage, adding still more cost. Coverage of those remarks said memory prices had already risen by as much as 3x in some cases, and that some brands might need to lift prices by 30% or more to keep specifications unchanged.

That is the real consumer-wallet issue: phone makers can either hold prices down and trim specs, or preserve performance and charge more. Nothing is signaling that it prefers the second path, even as it tries to compete on design and software rather than only on hardware. Pei has framed 2026 as the year the smartphone “specs race” could end, a shift that matters most in the budget and midrange brackets where buyers expect strong features without premium pricing.

For shoppers, the lesson is straightforward. Waiting for a better deal may not help if memory shortages keep pushing prices higher. Midrange buyers face the sharpest squeeze because that is where manufacturers have traditionally packed in more RAM, more storage and more visible feature upgrades. If a current phone still works well, holding onto it longer now looks smarter than chasing the next refresh at a higher price tag.