By 
Qualcomm is more or less the industry standard when it comes to smartphone chipsets. The company’s series of entry, mid, and flagship chips power a wide variety of Android smartphones today. But it seems that Qualcomm dominance could be in jeopardy, especially if these prices are accurate.
According to a post on Weibo spotted by Mochamad Farido Fanani, it has been observed that Qualcomm has been steadily increasing the prices of its chipsets over the years. The latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset is their most expensive to date. If the prices are correct, it is priced at $200 per unit. This is up from the $160 price tag of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.
Rumors, opinions, and price information of Snapdragon 8 series (835-8Gen3).
Using Chinese currency or Yuan. pic.twitter.com/hBveHDJf98
— Mochamad Farido Fanani (@faridofanani96) January 31, 2024
We can’t really blame Qualcomm for increasing their prices. Using newer and smaller manufacturing processes comes at a cost. Not to mention the performance gains and new AI support on a hardware level requires a lot of R&D.
At some point, handset makers will be forced to make a decision. They can either raise the prices of their phones or accept lower profit margins, or seek out alternatives like MediaTek. While Qualcomm has dominated the Android space for a long time, MediaTek appears to be on the rise. The company’s Dimensity 9000 series of chipsets has seen massive improvement gains in recent years, putting them almost on par with Qualcomm.
Keep in mind that these prices may not be accurate. Qualcomm does not publicly disclose how much their chipsets cost. Plus, it is possible that depending on the buyer, there could be additional discounts we are unaware of, so take these figures with a grain of salt.
Comments