OnePlus 15 and 15R just got more expensive: is the Nord 6 next?

OnePlus raised prices on both its flagships effective this week. The OnePlus 15 went up by up to Rs 6,000, with the top variant now sitting at Rs 85,999. The 15R, which had already seen a Rs 2,500 hike shortly after its December 2025 launch, has now been bumped again, with the base variant crossing Rs 52,999. Limited-time bank discounts of up to Rs 3,000 on the 15 and Rs 2,000 on the 15R offer some relief, but the trajectory is clear.

OnePlus is far from alone. Samsung, OPPO, Realme, Vivo, iQOO, Motorola, and Nothing have all raised prices across a wide range of models in recent weeks, and we’re tracking it all here. The Realme C83, launched at Rs 13,499 in early March, has already been revised twice and now retails at Rs 15,499. The iQOO Z11x went from Rs 18,999 to Rs 22,999 within days of launch. Even the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro, a phone that launched this year, has jumped by Rs 5,000 across variants. No segment has been spared, and no launch price has been treated as permanent.

The cause is well-documented at this point. Memory and storage manufacturers like Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron are prioritising orders from AI data centre operators willing to pay a premium for High-Bandwidth Memory, leaving the smartphone supply chain starved of the standard LPDDR5X RAM and NAND components used in handsets. Memory prices have surged 90 to 120 percent since late 2025, and in budget phones, memory now accounts for up to 40 percent of total manufacturing cost.

Which brings us back to the Nord 6. The phone launched at Rs 38,999 and is, based on our review, one of the best phones under Rs 40,000 right now. The 9,000mAh battery delivers a genuine two full days of usage, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 sustains 165fps gaming, and the camera system is meaningfully better than the Nord 5’s despite the sensor downgrade on paper. At its current price, it’s a strong buy. But the same was true of the OnePlus 15 at launch, and that’s now Rs 6,000 more expensive.

OnePlus hasn’t announced any price revision for the Nord 6, and there’s no guarantee one is imminent. But given that other recent OnePlus phones have been hiked, and the broader market shows no signs of stabilising, it would be unwise to assume the Nord 6’s launch price will remain unchanged. Counterpoint Research has noted that smartphone prices are expected to continue rising through 2026, and brands have stopped giving advance notice; hikes have been arriving silently and suddenly.