It's official: Qualcomm chip prices are going up on September 1

Qualcomm has made it official: chip prices are going up. CEO Cristiano Amon confirmed the move during the company's fiscal Q3 2026 earnings call on July 29, telling CNBC bluntly, "Cost went up, prices are going to go up."

The increase applies broadly across Qualcomm's product stack and takes effect on September 1. Management tied the hikes to broad-based cost inflation across wafer fabrication, memory, assembly, and advanced packaging, but Amon's framing makes it clear that memory is the bigger near-term driver.

Amon indicated that the cost pressures Qualcomm is passing on extend well beyond its own supply chain and are tied to the broader fight over memory chip supply.  Amon said shifting consumer preferences toward the lower end of the premium tier, or toward holding on to last year's phone, are a direct result of memory price increases squeezing affordability. He called the situation temporary. "There's also a change in gross margin because of the high supply cost that you're all hearing about. It's a temporary, short-term thing we are addressing with price increases."

Bloomberg broke the news of the letter on July 24, and we covered it that same week in the Steam Frame piece, so today's call is confirmation rather than news for anyone following the rumor mill.