Price hikes trigger chain reaction of inventory buildup: smartphone and PC shipments fall short of targets, affecting panels and lenses.

As we enter the year 2026, the global trend of continuously rising storage chip prices is spreading downstream to the consumer electronics industry, causing a chain reaction that impacts the smartphone, PC, and other terminal markets. Recently, Meizu responded to the question of whether the Meizu 22 Air will still be released, stating that the significant increase in memory prices is a huge blow to the company's smartphone business plans, and unfortunately, the Meizu 22 Air's launch plan has been cancelled. In fact, the "China Business News" reporter has noticed that in recent times, Lenovo, Dell, HP, OPPO, Xiaomi, and other terminal brands have all started to implement strategies such as price increases and brand integration in response to the rising costs, signalling the beginning of an industry reshuffle focused on cost control. At the same time, the cautious strategies in the terminal market are quickly spreading upstream, triggering a chain reaction that puts pressure on panel and optical lens manufacturers, and the short-term prosperity of the industry is facing a test. CINNO Research's chief analyst, Zhou Hua, told reporters that in the context of skyrocketing memory costs, brands are now adopting a strategy of "protecting the core and cutting the edges," prioritizing the performance of SoC, battery capacity, basic storage configuration, and other configurations directly impacting user experience while cutting back on features like camera lenses and panels.