The upcoming Redmi K100 Pro Max is now rumored to be using the same Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 SoC as its predecessor from 2025. However, there’s some very bad news about the pricing – apparently the K100 Pro Max will start at CNY 4,000, which is around $585.
That doesn’t sound like much if you’re outside of China, but consider the fact that the K90 Pro Max launched last year, with the same chipset, for CNY 3,199 ($467). So this is a huge price increase without an SoC upgrade – of course, if this rumor pans out. Keep in mind that a previous rumor said the K100 Pro Max would start at CNY 5,000 ($731), so we’re not sure exactly what will happen.
Redmi K90 Pro Max
The culprit for the price hike (regardless of how big it will turn out to be) is obvious: the RAM crisis fueled by AI data centers buying up all of the production capacity. Until someone actually decides to invest in more production capacity, or until the AI bubble bursts, the future of smartphone pricing is anything but bright.
