Ryan Haines / Android Authority
TL;DR Nothing co-founder Carl Pei has joined others in warning that phones will be more expensive in 2026.
Pei claimed that the specs race will end this year and that the era of “cheap silicon” was over.
He added that the user experience will be the only way phones can stand out.
RAM prices have shot through the roof, and this crisis affects smartphones, too. In fact, companies like Xiaomi and Samsung have warned of higher phone prices in 2026. Now, Nothing co-founder Carl Pei has echoed these warnings, while giving us a hint of what to expect from Nothing phones later this year.
In a post on LinkedIn and Twitter titled “Why your next smartphone will cost more,” Pei called 2026 an unprecedented year for electronics: 2026 will be an unprecedented year for consumer electronics, and the smartphone industry in particular. For fifteen years, the smartphone industry relied on a single, reliable assumption: components would inevitably get cheaper. While short-term volatility existed, the long-term downward trend in memory and display costs allowed for annual spec bumps without price hikes. In 2026, that model has finally broken, driven by a sharp and unprecedented surge in memory costs.
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The Nothing co-founder also hinted at what to expect from the company’s products later this year: 2026 is the year the “specs race” ends. As the industry resets, experience becomes the only real differentiator. That is exactly what Nothing was built for. The era of cheap silicon is over. The era of intentional design is just beginning. In other words, it sounds like people who were disappointed by Nothing phone specs in 2025 might be more disappointed in 2026. Nevertheless, Nothing has indeed emphasized factors like design and software over specs since its inception. So this situation doesn’t necessarily represent a major strategic change for the firm.
Do you agree with Nothing's Carl Pei that the specs race ends in 2026? 18 votes Yes, I do 17 % No, I don't 56 % The specs race ended before 2026 28 %
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