Xiaomi has officially released its latest flagship smartphones Xiaomi 17 and 17 Ultra globally, entailing a plethora of compelling features and an unprecedented surge in memory chip prices that threatens to decline sales.
With this significant launch, the Chinese-tech manufacturer aims to outdo its rivals including Samsung and Apple.
Xiaomi, which is the third-largest smartphone player worldwide, has maintained the significant loss of the devices versus last year’s flagship, amid the price surge in memory prices that are essential for handsets.
The Xiaomi 17 is currently available at 999 euros ($1,179) while the Xiaomi 17 Ultra costs 1,499 euros.
In the first quarter of the year, memory prices have exponentially risen between 80% and 90%, Counterpoint Research said.
The major hike was due to the shortage of memory chips with supply being directed toward data centers for AI.
Smartphone prices could reach 13% in 2026, as per Gartner forecast from February.
IDC projected the device market to decrease 12.9% in 2026 due to chip crunch.
A vice president for data and analytics at IDC, Francisco Jeronimo, told CNBC, “This year will be even worse because Xiaomi does not have a very strong premium share which means that they cannot rely on the premium segment to offset low margins in other devices like Apple and Samsung can.”
In November, Xiaomi management warned that the industry would likely have to raise smartphone prices in 2026.
While Xiaomi manufactures the bulk of revenue from consumer electronics, the company has been increasing its electric vehicle business in China, which now accounts for nearly a quarter of all sales.
The company saw a 3% year-on-year decline in smartphone revenue in the September quarter; however, sales at its electric car business rose nearly 200%.
