Qualcomm, the world's biggest maker of smartphone processors, has told customers it plans to raise the prices of its chips.
According to a report by Ian King of Bloomberg, Qualcomm sent a letter to customers on Friday warning that it would increase prices by "a percentage in the double digits." The Verge reports that the new pricing will take effect for products shipped after September 1st.
The company says the move is a last resort. As reported by Bloomberg and cited by The Verge, Qualcomm claims it has "exhausted its ability to absorb higher costs" passed on by its own suppliers, and can no longer shield customers from those increases.
Because Qualcomm's processors and modems sit inside a large share of the world's smartphones and other connected devices, the increase reaches far beyond the company itself. Device makers that buy Qualcomm chips will face higher component costs, and those costs often flow downstream.
The Verge frames the news bluntly in its headline, calling the price increases "bad news for everyone" — a nod to the likelihood that consumers could eventually see the effect in the price of phones and gadgets built around Qualcomm silicon.
The exact size of the increase beyond "double digits," and which specific products are affected, were not detailed in the source reporting.
Why it matters: when the dominant supplier of smartphone chips raises prices, the added cost can ripple through the entire device industry and ultimately land in what shoppers pay.