Xiaomi Defends Redmi K90 Price Hike Only to Offer Discount in China

Xiaomi President Lu Weibing blamed the Redmi K90 series’ higher pricing on surging global storage costs. However, his subsequent decision to reduce prices has raised more questions than answers.

In a post on Weibo^[1], Weibing said Xiaomi “cannot change the trend of global supply chains,” noting that the rise in storage costs has been much higher than expected and will continue to increase. He cited global shortages and higher manufacturing costs as key reasons behind the price adjustment of the K90 lineup, particularly the 12GB + 512GB variant, which has now been reduced to 2,899 yuan ($407) after a 300-yuan ($42) discount during the first sales month.

Weibing’s remarks reference an industry-wide trend. A July report from Taiwan’s Economic Times revealed that major NAND flash manufacturers, including Samsung, SK Hynix, Micron, Kioxia, and Western Digital, implemented production cuts of 10 to 15% in the first half of 2025. These reductions have tightened supply and driven up NAND prices.

According to DRAMeXchange, the average price of a 256Gb TLC UFS 4.1 flash storage wafer currently stands at $2 per unit, a noticeable increase from earlier this year. While that price represents raw wafers, not finished storage components, it still reflects mounting cost pressure throughout the supply chain.

However, Xiaomi’s justification has been met with skepticism. Xiaomi sources flash storage from multiple vendors, making it unlikely that price hikes from one supplier would cause such a sharp increase. Moreover, if Xiaomi^[2] truly faced tight margins, the company could not have afforded to lower the K90’s price so soon after launch.

The Redmi K90 series also uses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 SoC, a major cost driver priced between $240 and $280 per unit, a far more significant expense than storage alone.

Weibing’s attempt to deflect criticism has therefore backfired somewhat, suggesting that the company may have overestimated initial pricing tolerance among consumers. While there’s no denying that production costs have risen globally, Xiaomi’s $42 rollback hints that profit margins had more flexibility than the company initially admitted.