sandalwood

Executive Summary

Since March 2026, rising storage costs have hit the consumer market. With OPPO, vivo, Honor, and Xiaomi announcing price hikes, the mobile industry has officially entered a "price hike cycle."

Sandalwood data shows mainstream configurations are up over 20%, with entry-level 8+128GB models surging 28%. Consequently, domestic e-commerce sales volume dropped 23% YoY while average prices rose 18%, marking a sharp volume-price divergence.

Market structure is restructuring: (entry-level) versions suffer from price sensitivity, while high-end 16+1TB models buck the trend with 18% price growth, 18% volume growth, and a 2.6pp share gain.

Strategies are diverging by segment: budget markets focus on price control to stabilize volume, mid-range optimizes SKU mixes, and high-end leverages brand premium and IoT synergy. This storage-driven adjustment is reshaping market competition.

01 .Storage Price Hikes Substantially Transmitted to End Markets

Driven by continuously rising storage costs, phone manufacturers have intensively initiated price adjustments since March, marking a phase of accelerated cost transmission to end-users.

Regarding the timing and execution of these adjustments, strategies vary by manufacturer:

• OPPO took the lead by announcing the hike on its official商城 (mall) effective March 16, becoming the first domestic brand to officially confirm a price increase.

• On the same day (March 16), vivo/iQOO issued notices with execution starting March 18, aiming to mitigate short-term impact on sales volume.

• Honor followed closely on March 20, implementing category-wide adjustments. It utilized "Refresh Editions" to soften the direct perception of price hikes.

• In contrast, Xiaomi adopted a more lagging rhythm, officially announcing adjustments on April 11.

This round of price hikes reflects the accelerated release of storage cost pressure. As a core component accounting for a high proportion of total device cost, rising storage prices directly push up terminal pricing. Coupled with consumer price sensitivity, and influenced by manufacturers' supply chain bargaining power and their position in the mobile chain, costs are being transmitted to the demand side to varying degrees.

02.Terminal Prices Rise, Sales Volume Drops Significantly

According to Sandalwood product price monitoring data, market prices accelerated noticeably in the latter part of the first quarter (using March 14 as the node).

Comparing price data from April 8–14 with March 15–21:

• High-end configurations (16+1TB and 8+512GB) saw price increases approaching 20%.

• The average price for the mainstream mid-to-high configuration (12+256GB) rose by 22% year-on-year.

• The entry-level 8+128GB configuration saw the steepest hike, reaching 28%.

In terms of domestic market sales, Sandalwood's China e-commerce monitoring data (excluding Apple) compares the latest figures (April 8–14) with the week price hikes began (March 15–21). The results show a 23% drop in sales volume and a 10% decline in sales revenue; meanwhile, the average price increased by 18%.

Since the baseline period (March 15–21) already included the initial impact of price hikes, the decline in sales volume would be even more significant if compared to the pre-adjustment period.

03.High-End Transition: Three Structural Trends in Mobile Storage Configuration

First, memory and storage are concentrating in the mid-to-low price range, while upgrading to higher tiers in the mid-to-high price range:

• In the mid-to-low price range, the share of the 8+256GB configuration has risen significantly (+2.8pp);

• In the mid-to-high price range, configurations like 12+512GB, 16+512GB, and 16+1TB have shown obvious growth.

At the same time, price elasticity for mainstream entry-level versions has increased:

• In the mid-to-low price range, a 28% price hike for the 8+128GB version corresponds to a 36% drop in sales volume;

• In the mid-to-high price range, the 12+256GB version saw a 22% price increase and a 29% decline, whereas high-end versions conversely exhibit blunted elasticity.

Third is the counter-trend rise in both volume and price for the 16+1TB version. Against the backdrop of rising average prices across the board, it is the only version to achieve "18% price increase + 18% volume growth + 2.6pp share gain."

04.Strategy Breakdown by Price Segment: Low-End Controls Price to Stabilize Volume, Mid-End Optimizes Structure, High-End Supports Value

Viewed by price segment, different markets show clear differences in their reaction paths to rising costs:

Thousand-Yuan Market (0–2000 RMB): Highly Price Sensitive, Direct Cost Transmission, Core Strategy is Controlling Price to Stabilize Volume

In the low-price range, the rise in memory costs is almost "directly transmitted," with the market mainly manifesting as a simultaneous occurrence of reduced configurations and price increases. On one hand, configurations are clearly shifting towards the low-end, with the proportion of 8GB combinations rising rapidly, among which the 8+256GB growth is the most obvious; on the other hand, prices for mid-to-low configuration models are rising simultaneously, and cost pressure is passed to consumers with basically no buffering.

Affected by this, users are very sensitive to price changes. For example, after some models increased prices by 100–300 RMB, sales volume dropped by nearly 30-50%, and all configuration versions are declining, showing a clear relationship of "price hike leads to volume drop." In this price segment, manufacturers need to control prices and stabilize volume, minimizing sales loss by enhancing the attractiveness of base versions.

Mid-Range Market (2000–4000 RMB): Mainly Structural Adjustment, High-End Configurations Under Pressure, Core Strategy is Optimizing Version Combinations

The mid-range market has a certain buffering space for cost increases and mainly copes by adjusting product configurations. On one hand, in the configuration system originally dominated by 12GB and 16GB, lower configurations (such as 8+512GB) are being introduced to share the cost pressure;

On the other hand, consumers under budget pressure are more inclined to choose base versions. The decline in high-spec versions (such as 12+512GB, 16+512GB) for some products is significantly larger than that of standard versions. In this stage, manufacturers need to optimize version combinations and add intermediate configurations to meet user demand, while guiding users to make upgrade choices within acceptable ranges through reasonable pricing.

High-End Market (Above 4000 RMB): Coping with Pressure Through Product Structure Adjustment, Sales Affected by Multiple Factors, Core Strategy is Enhancing Overall Value Perception

In the high-end market, within the system dominated by 12GB and 16GB, demand is more concentrated on the standard version and the 1TB high-storage version, while the 512GB version is under greater pressure, indicating that manufacturers are guiding users towards the two ends through product combinations and price design.

From a market performance perspective, the correlation between price adjustments and sales changes is influenced by brand premium capability: sales of some products dropped significantly after price hikes, but products with unchanged prices also saw a decline of about 19%, indicating that the high-end market is not only affected by price but also by multiple factors such as brand power and product power.

In this price segment, manufacturers need to rely on brand premium to support the price system. In specific execution, they should widen the price gap between top-spec and base versions, compress the price gap of intermediate versions to guide upgrades, and combine IoT product linkage and bundled sales to enhance the overall sense of value, thereby reducing the impact of rising prices on sales volume while ensuring profits.