In 2025, TSMC - Taiwan's semiconductor manufacturing company (China) increased chip production prices. By 2026, TSMC is expected to continue to increase costs by 5-10% to cope with US tariffs, market fluctuations and other external factors, leading to more expensive smartphones when reaching consumers.
The TSMC-made chip is currently in use on both Apple and Samsung phones. The iPhone 17 series will use the A19 chip when launched in September, while the Samsung Galaxy S26 series will likely use Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 processor (or 8 Elite Gen 5) next year.
Both the A-line chip and the Snapdragon processor are manufactured at TSMC's foundries, and the two companies are expected to continue to cooperate with the Taiwan-based manufacturer in the coming time.
The iPhone 17 series, especially the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, is expected to increase in price this year and we will know for sure when they are launched on September 9.
Currently, the price increase is rumored to be around $50 USD, much lower than many experts initially expected, after hearing about the ongoing troubles in the supply chain and the upgrades that Apple is announcing with its latest flagship phones.
Of course, everyone will try to blame a specific problem that causes TSMC to increase prices from US tariffs, geopolitical tensions, to other reasons. TSMC understands that balancing price increases is extremely important to retain customers.
TSMC's increase in chip prices is also a major reason why Samsung wants to switch to using the Exynos processor it makes for smartphones, as well as Apple's efforts to reduce its dependence on Qualcomm. Although it is likely that the Exynos 2600 2nm will not be available in time for the Galaxy S26 series, it is expected to launch next year.
