Xiaomi's vice-president warns of price hikes for its smartphones as the chip shortage reaches for their market

Xiaomi's latest earnings call to its investors has revealed that the major consumer-device player made 70.5 billion yuan (or ~US$10.8 billion) in 4Q2020, or 24.8% more year-on-year (YoY); furthermore, its adjusted net profit was 3.2 billion (~$490 million), or 36.7p% YoY.

Despite these impressive figures, the company's VP Wang Xiang reportedly claimed that the ongoing chip shortage is eating into those profits, to the extent that the OEM might have to raise prices for its smartphones in the near future.

The executive is also quoted as saying the company would "continue to optimize the costs of our hardware devices" and would do its "best to offer the best price we can to consumers". However, Wang also conceded that potential customers was likely to be somewhat affected by the current SoC-supply crisis, as it starts to impact product categories like smartphones.

Qualcomm, a major source of mobile processors worldwide, is reportedly already having trouble supplying its clients with its constantly in-demand products. This is particularly bad news for Xiaomi, an OEM that is not only often looked to for cost-effective devices, but is also allegedly poised to diversify into new and premium categories, most notably foldables, soon. 

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