Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 price leaks and bad news for your next phone purchase

Qualcomm hinted at its Snapdragon Summit last year that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 would be more expensive than its predecessor. We have also seen leaks pointing to this increased price. Now a Chinese source has revealed the apparent prices for the new Snapdragon and MediaTek chips.

Digital Chat Station has posted apparent Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 and MediaTek Dimensity 9400 pricing on Weibo, and it doesn’t make for good reading. The tipster claims that both chips will be around 20% more expensive than their predecessors due to the cost of TSMC’s 3nm manufacturing process.

More specifically, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is said to cost $190, while the Dimensity processor apparently costs $155. The leaker warned in a follow-up comment that these were only approximate prices.

It is worth noting that chipset prices may fluctuate based on various factors such as exclusivity and quantity. So this price doesn’t necessarily reflect what Samsung, Xiaomi or ZTE would pay, but it still doesn’t bode well for consumers.

The apparent price for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is consistent with analyst Ming Chi-Kuo’s report from earlier this year. The analyst noted at the time that the new flagship processor would be 20 to 30% more expensive than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, citing a price of $190 to $200.

Xiaomi had previously noted an increase in “upstream costs” for upcoming phones and even asked followers what they should do. The Chinese manufacturer specifically asked fans whether they should downgrade their phones to maintain the price or offer improved phones at a higher price. We suspect that many other Android phone manufacturers are also in this dilemma.