If you're thinking about buying a new smartphone, this is bad news. As semiconductor and memory chip prices have skyrocketed globally, major Chinese phone maker Vivo will begin raising its phone prices starting Wednesday. Vivo and its sub-brand iQOO are following in the footsteps of competitors Oppo and Honor in hiking prices. Oppo has already officially implemented price changes starting Monday. Similarly, Honor's newly introduced flagship Magic V6 foldable is priced about CNY 1,000 (~$145) higher than its predecessor. More Honor models are expected to follow with price increases later this month. With this situation developing, audiences are eagerly watching to see if Xiaomi will raise prices on its popular K-series phones. In response, Xiaomi smartphone division president Lu Weibing openly shared on Weibo: "We understand why our competitors are raising prices. Everyone is under pressure, and bearing these costs ourselves is very painful for all of us." The main culprit behind these rapid price increases is the shortage of memory chips in the market as AI server demand has surged. Chip manufacturers are unable to immediately scale up production, and geopolitical tensions are also driving up raw material costs like metals and energy — putting smartphone companies in a very difficult position. Ref: South China Morning Post