Qualcomm, one of the biggest companies that makes the processors inside smartphones and other devices, told its customers on Friday, July 24, 2026, that prices are going up by double-digit percentages on anything shipped after September 1, according to reporting by Bloomberg, shared widely by The Verge.

The company sent a letter to customers explaining the planned increases. The exact percentage was not specified, only that it falls somewhere in the double-digit range. The September 1 start date gives the companies that buy Qualcomm's chips roughly five weeks to prepare.

Qualcomm said the reason is straightforward: the smaller parts and materials it needs to build its chips have been in short supply, and the suppliers of those parts have raised their prices. Qualcomm said it tried to find other suppliers before deciding to raise its own prices, according to The Verge, but could not find alternatives at a cost it could accept.

Think of it like a bakery that needs flour. If the flour supplier raises its prices and the bakery has already tried every other flour source in town, eventually the bakery has to raise the price of its bread to stay in business. Qualcomm has reached that point.

For the companies that buy Qualcomm's chips, mostly phone and device makers, the timeline is tight. Anything shipped before September 1 stays at the old price. Anything after that costs more. These companies now have about five weeks to figure out how the higher prices affect their own costs. Switching to a different chip supplier is not a quick option, since designing a phone around a new processor can take months.

The big question for everyday buyers is whether phone prices will go up as a result. Phone makers often absorb small cost increases to stay competitive on store shelves. But a double-digit increase is large enough that it may be hard to fully swallow, especially for cheaper phones where the chip already makes up a big portion of the total cost to build the device.

The broader context here is what this tells us about the chip supply chain. If Qualcomm, a massive company with enormous buying power, could not find alternative suppliers at a reasonable price, smaller companies buying the same parts will likely face the same problem or worse. The effects could extend well beyond Qualcomm's own customers.

We have seen this before. During the pandemic years of 2020 to 2023, chip shortages caused widespread price increases and long wait times across the entire tech industry. That shortage eventually eased as factories expanded and demand cooled. If the current shortages Qualcomm describes are the start of a new round of supply problems, this week's price increase may not be the last one we see.

Qualcomm has not said whether more increases are coming, and the reporting does not specify which products are most affected. What is clear is that a major chip supplier has told its customers costs are going up, and they have weeks, not months, to get ready.