Just how absurd can those cheapest smartphones get nowadays?

As is known to all, the skyrocketing prices of memory and flash storage have imposed a huge impact on the smartphone industry nowadays.

Those who have paid attention to the new phones launched recently may have found that the top-tier configurations of the first batch of flagship models from various brands equipped with the new flagship SoCs of Snapdragon and Dimensity have generally approached, and some even exceeded the 10,000-yuan threshold.

In the fall of 2024, vivo X200 Pro made its debut with support for LPDDR5X-10667 memory.

A closer observation of these new flagships will reveal that none of them adopt the highest specifications supported by the chips in terms of memory and flash storage configuration, and even some models across their entire product line are still using LPDDR5X-9600 memory. It should be noted that as early as the fall of 2024, some models were already equipped with LPDDR5X-10667. Two years later, the memory frequency and bandwidth of models with new platforms have even regressed, which is indeed quite lamentable.

However, this round of sharp cost surge has actually brought a greater impact not to the high-priced flagship products, but to the entry-level products with lower configurations and lower prices that are supposed to meet the most basic demands.

Readers who are browsing this article may think, "I don't buy entry-level phones, so what does its price increase have to do with me?"

But you need to know that although the prices of this year's batch of flagship phones seem to hit a new high, compared with last year, the overall price increase is generally around 1,000 to 1,500 yuan. Calculated by proportion, the price increase of these flagship phones this year is about 20%.

But what about entry-level phones? The latest "entry-level phones" of some brands have seen a direct 100% price increase compared with their previous generation. Although the 2026 entry-level phones of some brands have minor hardware improvements, their prices have directly risen from about 1,100 yuan of the previous generation to 1,999 yuan. While it is not exactly "doubled", it can be regarded as redefining the price range of entry-level mobile phones.

Think that's the end of it? Not really. Recently we found that some manufacturers have come up with "new tricks" to cut costs for entry-level phones.

For example, since memory manufacturers have begun to stop producing LPDDR4 memory, some extremely old entry-level mobile phone SoCs that rely on these old memory chips have to launch "new versions" by replacing the memory controller, so that future entry-level phones can be compatible with slightly newer memory solutions. Of course, this most likely means a further price increase.

For another example, recently some users found that a new entry-level phone from a large overseas manufacturer not only does not come with a charging head in the package, but even the data cable is directly omitted.

Why "cut off" the charging cable? From the perspective of manufacturers, this seems to be a "reasonable" move. After all, entry-level mobile phones have almost no room to cut costs further on components such as screens and cameras, while memory and storage chips are facing price hikes. If manufacturers still want to control costs and minimize the increase of the final selling price, reducing accessories and even the packaging box itself is almost one of the few feasible options.

Besides, manufacturers can also argue that they have already "omitted" the charging head before, so consumers must have their own spares. Since they have extra charging heads, how could they not have charging cables? So it seems that not including a charging cable with the new phone doesn't make much difference, right?

But manufacturers who think this way most likely have not considered two scenarios.

If other brands include charging heads, why would consumers insist on buying a phone that requires them to purchase an additional charging head?

First of all, for some young consumers, such an entry-level phone may indeed be their first mobile phone in life. In this case, they may not have prepared third-party charging heads and cables in advance. As a result, the consideration of "needing to spend extra money" will very likely make them give up the purchase from the very beginning and turn to other products that come with charging heads and cables.

Secondly, even for some users who have used other mobile phones in the past, "not including the data cable" may also cause trouble. After all, don't forget, this is an entry-level phone. In other words, its buyers are most likely to have used their last phone until it is worn out, and only consider changing phones when they have no other choice. In this case, is it possible that the charging head that came with their last phone is still 5V2A, and the included charging cable is still Micro USB?

Protective case, charging cable, charging head, earphone... Will the SIM eject pin be the next to be "omitted"?

Therefore, although from the perspective of product managers, it is not hard to understand the practice of some manufacturers trying to "offset" the rising cost by streamlining accessories on entry-level mobile phones to minimize the price increase, from the perspective of consumers, this may still bring very real troubles.

As for when the cost of storage chips in the smartphone industry will drop, and when manufacturers and consumers can finally "breathe a sigh of relief", the answer to this question is still unclear for now.

This article is from the WeChat Official Account "3eLife" (ID: IT-3eLife), written by San Yijun, and authorized for release by 36Kr.