News & Reviews:   RISE

In other news relating to rising phone prices, OPPO is set to increase the prices of some of its existing smartphones following a sharp rise in global memory component costs. The adjustment will take effect starting 16 March 2026, according to a notice posted on the company’s official online store.

It was only yesterday when we reported that the rising cost of memory chips may put pressure on Apple, since Samsung and SK Hynix are increasing it. However, Apple CEO Tim Cook responded to that matter during the company’s latest earnings call with equity analysts.

We have been talking about this for a while; memory costs have already risen, and the global memory chip market is facing steep price increases that are reverberating across the technology sector. This is prominent in the smartphone industry, where dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) is a critical component.

The rapid rise in memory chip prices is starting to shake up more than just smartphone and PC markets; it’s now affecting gaming handheld consoles as well. Manufacturers in this niche segment are beginning to feel the strain of “skyrocketing” RAM costs, a situation that has already led to shipment delays and configuration changes for upcoming handheld devices.

Industry research firm Counterpoint Research has revised its outlook for the global smartphone market, now projecting a slight contraction in shipments in 2026. The adjustment is largely due to a sharp rise in memory chip prices, especially for DRAM (RAM) used in smartphones, as supply tightens against booming demand from artificial intelligence (AI) data centres and other high-end computing sectors.

Over the past two years, the pandemic has affected the workforce and raised prices consequentially. One great example was the hiked price of GPU cards. We have also seen 2022 laptop model prices being a bit overpriced more than they used to and may even rise higher in the second half of 2022.

By now, you would probably have read a couple of news about chipset shortage around the world. It has affected many things besides smartphones, such as desktops, laptops, graphics cards, automobiles and other technologies from various industries. Many large manufacturers have been forced to reduce or halt production as well.

Facebook has announced that they will be introducing several Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker-themed features, on Facebook Messenger from today onwards. The new features allow you to express yourself via limited edition chat theme, reactions, stickers and more.