New smartphones are getting more expensive. Not by a little — and not for reasons that are going away anytime soon. If you've been on the fence about buying refurbished, 2026 is the year that decision makes more financial sense than it ever has.
Why Are Phone Prices Going Up in the UK?
The root cause is a global memory chip shortage driven by the AI boom. The same DRAM chips that power your smartphone are in enormous demand for AI data centres run by the likes of Google, Microsoft and Amazon. Chip manufacturers like SK Hynix and Samsung are prioritising the more profitable high-bandwidth memory for AI servers, leaving less supply for consumer devices.
According to Counterpoint Research, mobile DRAM prices have risen close to 70% since early 2025, while NAND flash — which handles storage — has nearly doubled in the same window. Those are component costs. They land on the shelf price eventually.
Memory now accounts for more than 20% of the total cost to build a mid-range smartphone, up from roughly 10–15% in previous years. That squeeze is being passed to shoppers.
Earlier this month, Currys CEO Alex Baldock warned UK consumers that higher prices for smartphones, laptops and other electronics are inevitable, saying AI and data centres were eating up the world's supply of silicon — and that this would "cause availability challenges and some cost price inflation coming through later this year."
The average selling price of smartphones in 2026 is expected to rise 6.9% year-on-year, driven by higher memory chip costs, according to Counterpoint Research. IDC's research manager Jitesh Ubrani has warned that smartphones could see price increases of 10% to 20% by the end of 2026. That's a meaningful hit on a device that already costs most people £600–£1,200 new.
Who Gets Hit Hardest?
Budget buyers, overwhelmingly. Phones under £200 are the most exposed because memory makes up 25–30% of their entire bill of materials — there is almost no margin left to absorb a 70% input cost increase. Rising memory chip costs are forcing manufacturers to increase their prices or pull out of the lower end of the market altogether.
The industry's decade-long trend of bringing flagship features to affordable smartphones is reversing. The cheap-but-capable phone that cost £199 last year may simply not exist in the same form this year — or it costs significantly more for the same specs.
UK mobile operators and retailers are likely to face renewed margin pressure as limited specification upgrades weaken traditional upgrade incentives, with the shortage most severe in the mid-range Android segment.
Are Refurbished Phones Worth It in 2026?
Yes — more so now than at any point in recent memory, for a simple reason: the gap between new and refurbished prices has widened significantly. When a new mid-range phone costs 10–20% more than it did twelve months ago, a professionally refurbished equivalent from the generation before becomes proportionally better value. You're not settling for less; you're sidestepping an artificially inflated market.
The refurbished smartphone market is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 14.3% between 2026 and 2030 — and that's before fully accounting for the memory shortage accelerating buyer migration away from new devices. Demand for refurbished mobile phones in the UK increased by 36% between 2021 and 2023, with 25% of UK mobile phones sold in 2023 being refurbished or second-hand. That trajectory is only steepening.
The quality concern that used to put people off refurbished devices is largely obsolete if you buy from a verified seller. At Tech4Cash, every device is checked using PhoneCheck diagnostics before it goes anywhere near a customer. You can see exactly how we grade devices on our device condition page — Grade A means what it says.
Is It Better to Buy a Refurbished Phone or a New One in 2026?
For the vast majority of UK buyers right now, refurbished is the better call. Here's the practical case:
- The savings are bigger than they look. A refurbished iPhone 15 or Samsung Galaxy S23 — both still fully capable phones with years of software support ahead — typically costs 30–50% less than its original launch price. With new equivalents rising, that gap is growing.
- You get a warranty. Buying refurbished from a reputable seller means you're covered. It's not a gamble — it's a tested device with a guarantee.
- Software support isn't the problem it used to be. Apple supports iPhones for six-plus years. Samsung now commits to seven years of OS updates on its flagship and mid-range lines. A two-year-old phone is nowhere near end-of-life.
- The environmental argument is real. Every refurbished device is one less phone in landfill and one less drain on the constrained supply chain that's making new devices expensive in the first place.
A premium phone in 2026 starts at around £700 and can exceed £1,000. That's a lot of money for incremental improvements over a device from 18 months ago. Spending £350–£500 on a professionally refurbished flagship from the previous generation gives you nearly identical real-world performance at a fraction of the cost.
Sell Your Current Phone Before Values Drop Further
There's a timing consideration worth flagging. As the new phone market contracts — global smartphone shipments could fall 2.1% in 2026 according to Counterpoint, against a previous expectation of flat-to-positive growth — second-hand values on older models will come under pressure as fewer people trade up. If you're sitting on a phone you want to sell, sooner is generally better than later.
Tech4Cash collects from your doorstep across the North East and Manchester, verifies your device, and pays instantly. No waiting around for a buyer on a marketplace, no PayPal disputes, no courier faff. If you're wondering what your handset is worth, take a look at our instant quote page.
And if you're ready to replace it, our full range of verified refurbished phones — iPhones, Samsung Galaxy, Google Pixel and more — is on our refurbished phones collection. Every device comes graded, tested and with warranty.
Right now, the maths on refurbished has never been this straightforward. New prices are going up; refurbished quality has never been higher. It's not a compromise — it's the sensible choice.
