The biggest changes for anyone with a mobile phone | Tech News

Smartphones have been as soon as the protect of tech fans and company professionals, however fast ahead to 2026 and the quantity of people with out one is dwindling fast. An unimaginable two in three people aged 65 and over within the UK now use a smartphone – the equal of round 8.5 million in whole – with that determine rising to 9 in ten people aged 55 to 65.

Yet whereas smartphone utilization has turn into ubiquitous, so has the bewildering degree of details about the categories of fashions, offers and packages accessible on the market.

And the unhealthy information for customers who’ve been laying aside an improve or new buy is that smartphones are about to get a lot more costly as a result of of the speedy growth of AI.

Telecoms skilled Ernest Doku of price comparability firm Uswitch says costs of premium phone fashions will increase this 12 months as reminiscence elements resembling DRAM (dynamic random entry reminiscence) – mostly utilized in computer systems and mobile gadgets – turn into more costly as they’re used to energy AI providers resembling ChatGPT.

“There’s a risk of affordable upgrades being a thing of the past… consumers are going to be a lot more conscientious about how much they’re paying for their devices,” he says.

The demand from AI companies resembling OpenAI and Google for elements firms to make and supply enough bodily DRAM to run power-guzzling AI information centres has in flip created a international scarcity of DRAM.

“That shortage has massively pushed up the price to somewhere between 50% to 70% for RAM,” says Ben Wood, chief analyst at industry analysis company CCS Insight. “For phones, you could see price rises of somewhere between 5% and 10% in 2026.”

While producers will increase price on telephones in all price brackets, customers may count on price will increase to their mobile contracts.

“All UK mobile network operators are cash-strapped as margins are being squeezed. Striking the right balance between raising much-needed funds and investing in next-generation networks is never easy,” says analyst Paolo Pescatore, founder of analyst firm PP Foresight.

Since regulator Ofcom ruled that from January 2025 mobile suppliers should state by how a lot mid-contract costs will increase in clear kilos and pence, fairly than linking hikes to inflation, suppliers have struggled to strike a stability. Last 12 months, O2 introduced some mobile clients would see payments rise by £2.50 the place it had beforehand said rises could be £1.80, a transfer Uswitch’s Doku describes as “problematic”.

The new guidelines enable operators to charge a flat fee for all clients throughout all tariffs, which might immediate customers to change suppliers for a cheaper deal or be part of a community that doesn’t increase charges yearly.

“All those consumers who have made a move to cheap SIMs are now facing, proportionally, 12%, 15% or 20% price rises, therefore the decision to switch is much more front of mind than a lot of the networks anticipated,” says Doku. “We’re going to see a lot of networks that don’t apply price rises really dial up that message to consumers.”

These suppliers embrace Giffgaff, Tesco Mobile and Lebara and are often known as mobile digital community operators (MVNOs) as a result of they lease community capability from EE, O2 or VodafoneThree, the latter of which merged two of the UK’s main networks final 12 months. Customers of each Vodafone and Three ought to quickly see the fruits of this union.

“2026 is the year consumers will feel the difference with massive spectrum sharing, the phone going between Three and Vodafone masts automatically to really boost reliability,” mentioned Doku.

Customers’ current telephones connecting to each Vodafone and Three signal masts is a benefit that at present incurs no additional value. says the merger was good for customers as a result of it intensified competitors with EE and O2.

“There are no new clients left,” adds Wood. “Everyone who wants a phone has got a phone, so either you hold on to the customers that you’ve got, or you steal them from someone else. On that basis they [operators] have to remain hypercompetitive in order to maintain their position in the marketplace.”

In October last year, O2 announced a partnership with Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite firm to “boost rural UK mobile coverage”, though it will initially only cover messaging and data services. Unlike VodafoneThree’s automatic coverage benefits, O2 customers must sign up to register interest in the scheme.

Mobile customers who already own their phone outright from paying off their handset contracts, or who can afford to buy a new phone upfront in 2026, will turn to MVNOs that offer cheaper, 30-day rolling SIM-only plans. New entrants include challenger bank Revolut, which offers unlimited 5G data, calls and texts for £12.50 per month. Rival Monzo could also enter the mobile market this year along with buy now pay later firm Klarna.

But chasing savings on your bills could be a dead end.

“Arguably there are bigger savings on switching TV providers as content is now available across numerous players offering a range of bundles including streaming services,” says Pescatore.

Price rises aren’t the only development coming down the phone line. While high end smartphones are pushing well over the £1,000 mark – the iPhone 17 Pro costs from £1,099 and the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra retails at £1,249 – the most anticipated phone of this year is likely to tip the scales closer to £2,000.

“This is an important year for foldable phones because all the rumours point towards Apple introducing a folding iPhone, and whenever Apple does something everybody wants to know about it,” says Wood.

Foldables have flexible screens that open and close like a book or old school flip phone. They provide a bigger screen space for entertainment and multitasking functionality. Apple’s main smartphone rival Samsung released its first folding phone in 2019, though high prices and durability concerns have stunted foldable phone growth to about 30 million units annually worldwide, says Wood.

Global smartphone shipments overall are about 1.2 billion but the foldable market’s comparatively small 30 million annual sales could soar with the arrival of an iPhone model. It is said to fold book-style like the £1,799 Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 rather than a flip phone but Wood says the price could be costly so as not to cannibalise sales of Apple’s existing high-end phones.

January has already seen Chinese Android company Honor release its impressive Magic 8 Pro handset in the UK at £1,099 with a 200 megapixel telephoto zoom lens and a focus on AI software to edit photos, translate text and integrate AI software Google Gemini. Honor also recently showed off a concept device called the Robot Phone with a swivelling camera, personified in marketing videos to recall Disney and Pixar’s Wall-E.

Next month could see Samsung announce new premium Galaxy S phones, and the UK is waiting to see if it will get the Galaxy Z TriFold, a phone headed to other markets that folds not once, but twice, opening from a regular phone size to reveal a 10-inch tablet screen. Prices would likely far exceed £2,000.

“It is a statement device,” said Dario Betti, CEO of the Mobile Ecosystem Forum. “Samsung is using it as a technology pilot, not a revenue engine. Volumes are tiny by design. The objective is to show what Samsung can build before Apple enters the field.”

This month, Apple and Google announced a new partnership that will see Google Gemini power the next generation of Apple’s Siri personal assistant. But all these new, expensive phones with AI won’t necessarily convince the UK public to invest.

“People are holding on to their phones for longer because innovation has slowed and phones have got better,” said Wood. People are now keeping phones for up to four years before upgrading.”

That might see phone consumers this 12 months flip to the more and more mature refurbished phone market, the place shopping for a secondhand machine is much less dangerous than it was due to established retailers that offer guarantee.

“A two year old iPhone is not a million miles away from a brand new iPhone today,” Wood mentioned. “There are going to be trade-offs, but it’s going to save you a lot of money.”

One space the place it might pay to get a new phone are the enhancements to battery life being made by some Android manufacturers. New silicon-carbon batteries are being utilized in telephones such because the OnePlus 15, which might offer three days of regular use on a single charge. The technology seems to outperform conventional lithium-ion batteries significantly.

“It’s a real, genuine leap in battery technology,” says Doku. “Samsung will seriously consider adopting the technology, and Apple might enter the fray.”

But even when Apple’s folding phone battery doesn’t final for three days, Android manufacturers will battle to tempt long-time iPhone house owners to change platforms. “I call Apple the Hotel California of smartphones,” says Wood. “Once you’re in, you’re not really leaving, right?”