The shift towards higher-priced smartphones raises questions about how quickly advanced features, especially artificial intelligence, will reach more affordable devices. As memory costs put pressure on lower price segments, chipset makers are looking at ways to bring capabilities currently associated with flagship processors to cheaper smartphones. Qualcomm expects this transition to take place gradually as AI models become more efficient and the software ecosystem matures.
Sumit Sonal, head of marketing at Qualcomm India, said memory price inflation had already affected the sub-₹25,000 segment.
“Because of memory price inflation, the entire segment below ₹25,000 has moved up,” Sonal said.
Qualcomm expects technologies associated with its flagship Snapdragon 8-series processors to reach its 7-series, 6-series and 5-series chipsets over the next few years now. Sonal said improvements in smaller AI models could help bring agentic AI features to smartphones with lower-tier processors.
“The idea is to bring these capabilities down gradually. As smaller models become more optimised, they can also run on lower-tier chipsets, including those that support agentic AI experiences,” Sonal said.
Smaller AI models could reduce the computing resources needed to run some AI features on smartphones. Agentic AI systems are designed to carry out multi-step tasks with less direct user input than conventional assistants. Their use on affordable devices will depend on hardware capabilities and the maturity of the software ecosystem.
Sonal said Qualcomm did not want to bring these capabilities to lower-tier chipsets too quickly because smartphones would still need sufficient processing power to support them.
“We need to let the ecosystem mature before these capabilities can move down to lower-tier chipsets. The market also needs to stabilise before this progress can take place,” he said.
For smartphone makers, the challenge is to manage higher component costs while maintaining devices across price segments. The spread of advanced AI features to more affordable phones will depend on how quickly models can be optimised to run on less powerful hardware, even as memory prices affect the cost of device manufacturing.
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