There Was a Reason iPhones Got More Expensive... A 10-Fold Surge Amid Chip Shortages

[Anchor]

A semiconductor shortage triggered by the artificial intelligence boom has led to "chipflation," driving global smartphone shipments down to their lowest level in 14 years. Soaring production costs have directly translated into higher product prices, increasing the burden on consumers.

Reporter Park Jaehyeon has the story.

[Reporter]

Apple raised the prices of all models in the iPhone 18 series released last month.

The release price of the iPhone duo has surpassed 3 million won.

The price hikes were driven by cost pressures, with skyrocketing memory semiconductor prices having a major impact.

The prices of semiconductors used in PCs and smartphones have surged nearly tenfold in a year.

This supply shortage occurred as semiconductor companies concentrated their production on high-value-added products such as HBM.

[Sean Kim / Morgan Stanley Researcher (June, Morgan Stanley Podcast): AI companies were able to secure priority supply by entering into long-term contracts and paying upfront. On the other hand, PC and smartphone manufacturers had to compete for the remaining supply.]

As smartphone manufacturers raised prices due to cost pressures, consumers are now closing their wallets.

[Choo Jung-sook / Yangcheon-gu, Seoul: The price is expensive to begin with. It is too expensive to upgrade, and since it is not broken yet, I plan to keep using it until it breaks completely.]

As a result, global smartphone shipments in the third quarter of this year decreased by 20 percent compared to last year.

This is the lowest level in 14 years since 2012.

The rise in semiconductor prices has led to a decline in consumption and a drop in shipments.

Although Samsung Electronics recorded a record-high operating profit of 107 trillion won in the third quarter, its mobile and home appliance divisions are estimated to have posted losses in the scale of 1 trillion won in the third quarter, following their first-ever deficits in the second quarter.

Recently, even semiconductor equipment and material suppliers have rushed to raise prices, and cost pressures are expected to grow further.

[Kim Yang-peng / Senior Researcher, Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade: Because demand for manufacturing equipment and materials is also increasing due to rising semiconductor demand, a domino effect is occurring where supplying companies are also raising their prices.]

With shortages and rising process costs, forecasts suggest that semiconductor-driven inflation, or chipflation, will accelerate further.

(Video Editing: Lee Sang-min, Design: Seo Seung-hyun, VJ: Lee Ji-hwan)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.