BEIJING — Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi addressed market concerns on Friday, attributing the higher pricing of its new Redmi K90 series to a significant increase in memory chip costs. The company’s announcement came after the launch prices disappointed some industry observers.
In a post on the social media platform Weibo, President Lu Weibing acknowledged the cost pressures. “The impact of rising costs has been reflected in the pricing of our new products,” Lu stated. “The increase in memory chip prices has been far greater than anticipated, and this trend may continue.”
The new entry-level Redmi K90, launched on Thursday, has a starting price of 2,599 yuan (approximately $364) for the base model with 12 GB of memory and 256 GB of storage. This represents an increase from the 2,499 yuan starting price of the previous generation, the K80 series, which was launched in November 2024.
President Lu also responded to consumer feedback regarding the price differences between various device configurations. In response, he announced that Xiaomi will reduce the price of the most popular K90 model—featuring 12 GB of memory and 512 GB of storage—by 300 yuan. This model will be available for 2,899 yuan for the first month of sales.
The rising costs are part of a broader industry trend. A global surge in demand for chips to power artificial intelligence applications has constrained the supply of conventional chips used in smartphones, personal computers, and servers. This supply tightness has led to a sharp increase in prices, subsequently boosting the earnings of major NAND and DRAM memory manufacturers, including South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.
