iQOO 16 India Launch May Be Scrapped Due to Rising Memory Prices 

iQOO 16 India launch could be in doubt due to the rising memory costs. The iQOO 16 is one of the latest dominoes to fall as memory costs continue to rise. Brands like CMF have also scrapped their plan to debut their budget phone due to the very same reason.

Per tipster Yogesh Brar, iQOO 16 India launch may have been cancelled. “With current memory rates, iQOO 16 will cross Rs 85k,” he says. “iQOO has only 1 budget Z series phone for this year, all other products have been scrapped,” he added.

Crossing the Rs 85,000 mark would certainly affect the brand’s reputation in India as it’s known to offer competitive products at lower prices compared to the competitors. The iQOO 15 debuted for Rs 72,999 which is already a huge jump from the iQOO 13’s Rs 54,999 price tag.

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iQOO’s main competitor is OnePlus as both brands generally launch products at identical price points and OnePlus’ latest flagship, the OnePlus 15, has already crossed the Rs 85,000 mark. While the iQOO 15 is still in the sub-Rs 80,000 range, it is possible that the brand does not want to launch products priced higher than that, and because the chip shortage issue would have caused it to do so, iQOO may have had to alter its launch plans.

iQOO 16 could still be coming to China though, with leaks suggesting it is powered by the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro chipset.

Brands like CMF have pulled off a similar move, where the latest device to be scrapped, at least for this year, is the purported CMF Phone 3 Pro. CMF’s parent company Nothing also confirmed that it won’t be launching the successor to Nothing Phone (3) this year. Companies like Apple have significantly raised the prices of their products as well, all because of the memory costs which continue to rise.