Xiaomi smartphones may rise in price due to the lack of chips

The Chinese company Xiaomi usually offers smartphones and other gadgets that cost much less than many

competitors. But it looks like that may change this year.

What happened

As Xiaomi Wang Xiang said duringthe company's report on profits and losses for the fourth quarter, some smartphones may become more expensive this year. And the reason for this is the protracted crisis in the semiconductor industry.

Since last year, due to the pandemic and increaseddemand due to the transition to distance learning and remote work, there is a shortage of chips. First of all, this hit the gaming industry, but the mobile industry was also affected. Moreover, even car manufacturers such as Hyundai expect to be hit by the chip supply shortage.

Qualcomm, a key supplier to Xiaomi, is strugglingis trying to meet orders from major smartphone brands. But the shortage of chips increases the costs of companies, so it is possible that this will affect the price tags.

“We will continue to optimize costs for ourhardware devices. We will do our best to offer consumers the best price we can. But we may have to pass on part of the cost increase to the consumer,” Wang Xiang emphasized.