[DigitalToday reporter Jinju Hong (홍진주)] A next-generation, ultra-high-spec flagship smartphone may be on the way. A so-called “super-premium” smartphone combining cutting-edge chip and memory technology is believed to be in testing.

On March 12 local time, IT outlet PhoneArena reported that tipster Digital Chat Station said a next-generation flagship smartphone is being developed with a focus on top specifications in silicon and memory technology.

The device is known to be expected to feature 16GB of LPDDR6 RAM, 1TB of UFS 5.0 storage and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite 6th Gen Pro chipset. The exact brand has not been disclosed, but some in the industry are citing the Xiaomi 18 Ultra as a candidate for the next-generation flagship.

Still, the specifications are expected to require substantial costs. The estimated unit price of the Snapdragon 8 Elite 6th Gen Pro is about $300 per unit, reflecting manufacturing costs of about $30,000 per wafer.

Memory prices are also significant. LPDDR6 memory is expected to cost about 20 percent more than LPDDR5X and is valued at about $18 per gigabyte. Based on that, 16GB of LPDDR6 RAM could cost about $345.

The chipset and RAM alone bring costs to close to $650. Adding 1TB of UFS 5.0 storage, other components and manufacturing and marketing costs could push the total bill of materials above $800. The industry believes that given that cost structure, the final consumer price could be set at $1,700 or more.

The industry is also watching how such a high-price strategy would be received in the smartphone market. Premium smartphone prices have risen steadily in recent years, fuelling debate among some consumers over value for money.

Still, it is not yet certain whether a smartphone with those specifications will actually be released. The industry points out that manufacturers often test models that serve as technology demos to showcase technical competitiveness. If the specifications lead to an actual product, attention is focused on whether an ultra-high-performance, ultra-high-price strategy will become a new trend in the smartphone market.