Lava International has announced a price revision of up to ₹3,000 across its smartphone portfolio from November 15, citing ongoing memory shortages.
The newer iPhone Pro model was launched at ₹1,64,900, compared with ₹1,34,900 for the iPhone 17 Pro, reflecting a 22 per cent increase in launch pricing, he said.
Voxelgrids, which develops MRI systems, has seen the cost of its GPU-based workstations nearly double over the past year, with prices rising from around ₹7 lakh to ₹13.5 lakh, said Co-founder and CEO Arjun Arunachalam.
The company has seen prices of chips used across its MRI systems, including GPUs, FPGAs and microprocessors, rising sharply.
With mobile GMV growth expected to slow and component costs rising, manufacturers may have less room to sustain the deep discounts that typically drive festive purchases.
Smartphone makers are raising prices as a sharp increase in memory costs adds to the pressure on the consumer electronics industry, even as the festival season growth in mobile sales is expected to slow significantly. Lava International has announced a price revision of up to ₹3,000 across its smartphone portfolio from November 15, citing ongoing memory shortages.
The move comes against the backdrop of a sharp rise in component prices. A 2GB LPDDR5X memory die, which cost around $6.8 in January, is now priced at about $30, an increase of approximately 341 per cewnt, said Abhilash Kumar, Lead Research Advisor (Director) at Smart Analytics Global (SAG).
“Smartphones are the most exposed category in the current memory shortage and are likely to experience the most pronounced impact in India,” said Kumar, adding that smartphones and laptops use significantly more DRAM and NAND than products such as televisions, TWS earbuds and smartwatches.
According to Datum Intelligence’s festival outlook report, mobile gross merchandise value (GMV) growth is projected to slow to 6 per cent in 2026, from 26 per cent in 2025. The category’s share of festival sales is also expected to decline to 29.8 per cent, from 35.2 per cent last year. Overall festival-market growth, however, is forecast to remain at 25 per cent.
Lava said consumers planning to upgrade their devices should make use of current festival offers before the revision takes effect.
“Consumers looking to upgrade their devices have a strong opportunity at this moment, as our products are currently available at festive prices across leading e-commerce platforms and offline retail network,” the company said.
Price pressure
Kumar cited the case of Vivo V70 (12GB + 256GB), launched at around ₹49,999 in February 2026, which is now retailing at approximately ₹64,999, a rise of nearly 30 per cent. The newer iPhone Pro model was launched at ₹1,64,900, compared with ₹1,34,900 for the iPhone 17 Pro, reflecting a 22 per cent increase in launch pricing, he said.
The impact is likely to be less pronounced in wearables, which generally require less memory. While smartphones typically use around 6GB of RAM, true smartwatches use about 2GB, and TWS earbuds and smart rings have memory requirements measured in megabytes, Kumar said.
The shortage is also affecting businesses that rely on other categories of chips. Voxelgrids, which develops MRI systems, has seen the cost of its GPU-based workstations nearly double over the past year, with prices rising from around ₹7 lakh to ₹13.5 lakh, said Co-founder and CEO Arjun Arunachalam. Delivery timelines have also stretched from less than four weeks to nearly 16 weeks.
The company has seen prices of chips used across its MRI systems, including GPUs, FPGAs and microprocessors, rising sharply. This has translated into an overall increase of about 35 per cent in its costs, said Arunachalam.
For smartphone brands and e-commerce platforms, the timing is particularly challenging. With mobile GMV growth expected to slow and component costs rising, manufacturers may have less room to sustain the deep discounts that typically drive festive purchases. India smartphone shipments are forecast to fall more than 15% in the second half of 2026, according to the Datum report, adding to concerns over volume growth.
Published on November 2, 2026
