Qualcomm has officially confirmed that it will increase the prices of its Snapdragon chipsets starting September 1. The announcement ends recent speculation that the company was preparing to raise prices across its entire chipset lineup.
The confirmation came from Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon during an interview. He said the company will increase Snapdragon chip prices because the cost of making chipsets has gone up across the production process.
Qualcomm also shared more details in a separate press release. The company said it can no longer absorb the rising manufacturing costs without adjusting product prices. As a result, the higher costs will now be reflected in the prices of its Snapdragon chips. Although Qualcomm did not reveal the exact size of the increase, earlier reports suggested that prices could rise by double-digit percentages. The company has not confirmed those figures.
The price increase could create more pressure for smartphone makers. Many companies are already dealing with higher memory chip prices. Now, they may also have to pay more for Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors. As a result, smartphone brands could pass these higher costs on to buyers. That means future smartphones may become even more expensive in the coming months.
Qualcomm supplies Snapdragon processors to many leading Android smartphone brands. Therefore, the price increase could affect a wide range of upcoming devices if manufacturers decide to adjust retail prices.
