This Week in Smartphones: Pixel 11 Drops 128GB, Foldables Cost More

Seven phone launches landed in the same seven days, and almost every one pushed the same combination of choices: bigger batteries, higher entry storage, higher sticker prices. This week in smartphones, the news across brands reads as a market-wide reset of what a 2026 phone costs, weighs, and ships with from the box, with a foldable refresh, a mid-range battery jump, and a pro-tier thickness trade-off all arriving on the same calendar.

Below is the calendar of everything that surfaced between Monday and Sunday, from Nothing’s cheapest phone yet to a wave of Pixel, Galaxy, Xiaomi, and Apple leaks, all tied to one industry signal: memory chips now account for a larger share of every phone’s bill of materials than they did a year ago.

Nothing made the cheapest move of the week

Nothing’s London office opened pre-orders for the Phone (4b), the first entry in a new (b) tier sitting below the Phone 4 line introduced earlier this year, with UK pricing starting at £299. India pricing is set at ₹34,999 and a continental European tag of €329 lands alongside, the company confirmed. Drops run in Nothing’s own stores from July 11, with online listings going live on July 17. The launch is limited to the UK, Europe, and India.

The (4b) trades a few flagship extras for its starting price. It carries a 6.77-inch Super AMOLED display at 120Hz adaptive, the largest battery ever fitted to a Nothing phone at 5,200 mAh, 33W wired charging that reaches a 50% top-up in under 30 minutes, a Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 chipset, and a 50MP main camera with optical image stabilization. IP64 dust and splash resistance carries over from the (4a) generation. The phone runs Nothing OS 4.1 on Android 16 with Nothing’s Essential AI suite baked in. Nothing’s own community post confirmed the July 7 launch date ahead of the pre-order opening.

Pixel 11 silently kills the 128GB entry tier

Google’s Pixel 11 series is set to arrive with the 128GB storage tier gone from the lineup entirely. A pricing leak compiled by GSMArena shows every model from the Pixel 11 through the new Pixel 11 Pro Fold will start at 256 GB for the first time. The Pixel 10 and Pixel 10 Pro both shipped with a 128GB entry variant when they launched last year. Compared with the Pixel 10’s 128GB entry sticker, the new Pixel 11 256GB entry lands €100 higher, while the 256GB capacity itself carries the same sticker as it did on the Pixel 10.

The leak pegs the base Pixel 11 at €999 for 256GB, the Pixel 11 Pro at €1,199, the Pixel 11 Pro XL at €1,399, and the new Pixel 11 Pro Fold at €1,999. Full pricing in both euros and pounds is laid out below.

The Pixel 11 Pro XL and the Pixel 11 Pro Fold are getting a €100 price increase across the full storage ladder, taking the XL to €1,399 for 256GB and the new Fold to €1,999 for the same starting capacity. Color options span Light Sterling (gray), Midnight Haze (black), Fuchsia (pink), and Moss (green), with the Pixel 11 Pro Fold limited to Midnight Haze and Pine. Per the leak, the 1TB variant on any model ships only in Midnight Haze. Google is tipped to announce the Pixel 11 family on August 11, with pre-orders opening the same day and retail release following on August 20.

The mid-range battery bar resets again

Battery capacity is the metric the mid-range segment is racing to reset this month. The vivo V80 is tipped to arrive with a 7,200 mAh battery in its body, paired with 90W charging and the same Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 chipset that powered its predecessor. Per a tipster cited by GSMArena, the V80 keeps a 6.59-inch flat 1.5K display running at 144Hz, a 50MP main shooter, a 50MP periscope telephoto, and an 8MP ultrawide, with a 50MP selfie camera up front. Vivo is expected to unveil the V80 in mid-August. An IP69 rating and an aluminum alloy frame are reportedly carried over from the last generation.

Redmi’s Note 17 family gets its own battery jump on July 14, when Xiaomi unveils the lineup in China. Per a recent GSMArena-cited leak, the standard Redmi Note 17 is tipped to ship with a 9,000 mAh cell. The Note 17 Pro swaps that block for a 200MP primary camera while sharing the Gorilla Glass Victus 2 cover and IP69K rating Xiaomi confirmed in its official teasers. IP69K certification covers high-pressure, high-temperature water jets, a spec Xiaomi says is rare in this price class. The rumored specs for both phones compare as follows:

• vivo V80 (mid-August): 7,200 mAh battery, 90W charging, Snapdragon 7 Gen 4, 6.59-inch 1.5K 144Hz display, 50MP main, 50MP periscope telephoto, 8MP ultrawide, 50MP selfie, IP69.
• Redmi Note 17 (July 14, China): 9,000 mAh battery, 6.83-inch display, Snapdragon 6 Gen 5, 50MP primary rear camera.
• Redmi Note 17 Pro (July 14, China): 200MP primary rear camera, Gorilla Glass Victus 2 cover, IP69K rating.

Samsung’s foldables climb in three currencies at once

Samsung’s next-generation foldables leaked in three separate currencies this week. Per a Korean outlet Sedaily report carried by Notebookcheck, the Galaxy Z Fold8 will start at $1,899 in the US for the 256GB variant, with the new Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra opening at $2,099. The Ultra figure is $100 above the launch price of last year’s Z Fold7.

A SamMobile report citing Korean carriers sets the local prices at KRW 2,278,000 (~$1,499) for the Z Fold8, KRW 2,577,000 (~$1,682) for the Z Fold8 Ultra, and KRW 1,683,000 (~$1,099) for the Z Flip8. The Korean Fold8 Ultra lands about $130 above the Fold7’s local sticker, and the wider Fold8 lands roughly $70 below its predecessor on the same conversion. Pre-orders in Korea are tipped for July 28 through August 3, with general availability set for August 7.

European pricing from a separate leak puts the Z Fold8 Ultra at €2,199 for 256GB, the Z Fold8 at €1,999 for the same capacity, and the Z Flip8 at €1,299. The same European sheet attaches watch pricing: the Galaxy Watch9 opens at €409 for the 40mm and €459 for the 44mm, with the LTE Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 at €749. Samsung has officially scheduled the unveiling for a Galaxy Unpacked event on July 22 in London. The smaller Galaxy Z Fold8 carries a new form factor with a 5.4-inch cover display and a 7.8-inch foldable main panel in a 4:3 aspect ratio. Both foldables run on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chipset, per the Sedaily report.

The Galaxy S27 returns to a two-chip world

Samsung’s Galaxy S27 lineup is shaping up to ship under a chip strategy Galaxy S buyers will recognize. Per a Korean media report carried by Sammy Fans, Samsung’s System LSI division wants to use the in-house Exynos 2700 across the base Galaxy S27, the S27 Plus, and the S27 Pro. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 is reserved for the S27 Ultra worldwide. Adoption is still tied to the performance and yield stability of Samsung Foundry’s 2nm process.

Exynos variants have historically shipped in South Korea, India, Europe, the UK, Africa, and Australia. Snapdragon-powered Galaxy S flagships typically reach Canada, China, and the United States. The S26 and S26 Plus already launched on the Exynos 2600 earlier this year, putting this generation’s regional split in line with the previous one.

The Exynos 2700 is built on Samsung Foundry’s second-generation 2nm process. Samsung’s System LSI group switched the architecture to a Side-by-Side layout, placing the application processor and DRAM horizontally adjacent. The previous Exynos 2600 used Heat Path Block packaging instead. The wider Galaxy S27 series is expected to debut in February 2027, with an Unpacked event tipped for that month.

iPhone 18 Pro Max and Xiaomi 18 Pro Max trade thinness for capacity

Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro Max is tipped to break from the thinness-first playbook that has shaped the past three generations. Leaker Ice Universe, cited by AppleInsider, says the iPhone 18 Pro Max will run a 5,500 mAh battery, a step up from the 5,088 mAh cell inside the iPhone 17 Pro Max. The same leak pegs the new phone’s weight at 240g against the predecessor’s 233g, with the chassis tipped to grow in depth to 9mm from the current 8.75mm. Apple does not publish iPhone battery capacities in mAh, so any cell-size claim is set to be confirmed only when the phone is unveiled.

Xiaomi’s 18 Pro Max points in the same direction with harder numbers. Leaks compiled by BigGo Finance and attributed to Digital Chat Station say the Xiaomi 18 Pro Max will be among the first phones to run Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro. The same set of reports pegs its battery at 7,000 mAh in one leak and 8,500 mAh in another, with 100W wired charging expected on the spec sheet. The phone is tipped for a September 2026 launch with a 6.9-inch flat display and dual 200MP rear cameras, paired with an enhanced rear display with AI features. Full battery and weight breakdown for the iPhone 18 Pro Max traces both the Ice Universe numbers and a separate Fixed Focus Digital report for context.

The memory cost thread running through the week

The week’s pricing and storage moves share a root cause memory suppliers have been flagging since early 2026. SamMobile’s coverage of the Korean foldable leaks cites industry data showing the share of memory chip costs inside an $800 smartphone rising from 14% in the first quarter of 2025 to 40% in the third quarter of 2026. The same report lays out the downstream effect in plain language.

Smartphone brands have little choice but to pass those higher component costs on to consumers.

That quote appears in SamMobile’s pricing report, framed as the conclusion of the industry data it cites. Samsung itself has moved twice on the cost side this year. Per Korean outlet Segye Biz, the company raised the prices it charges its own service network for repair parts twice in 2026, once in January and again earlier this month. Material costs across the Mobile eXperience division climbed an average of 5% on the second bump; Samsung’s Visual Display division stayed flat.

The iPhone 18 Pro Max thickness bump and the Xiaomi 18 Pro Max’s reported 8,500 mAh pack both run into the same wall. Battery cells cost more per watt-hour than they did a year ago, with the largest-capacity packs absorbing the biggest absolute hit. Google’s decision to step the Pixel 11 storage floor up to 256GB gives the company room to stop subsidizing 128GB NAND margins that have eroded over the past year. Samsung’s regional chip split on the S27 carries a similar logic, with an Exynos SoC built on Samsung’s own foundry carrying a different bill of materials than a Snapdragon from Qualcomm. None of these moves is named as a memory-cost response on the record.

Memory and NAND prices have grown severalfold over the past year, per SamMobile’s reporting on Samsung’s Korean foldables. Samsung’s own service network absorbed a second 2026 parts price increase this month, per Segye Biz. Foldables, which use more NAND and DRAM than bar-style phones, have the most exposure in this week’s leak stack. Bar-style phones are not insulated: Google’s Pixel 11 lift to a 256GB floor is one direct response to memory cost pressure. Apple’s reported iPhone 18 Pro Max thickness bump absorbs larger battery cells that themselves cost more per watt-hour than a year ago. Xiaomi’s leaked 8,500 mAh pack sits in the same supply-constrained market. Korean carriers’ pricing leak with memory cost data included sits at the source of the 14% to 40% figure.

Frequently Asked Questions

When does the Pixel 11 series launch?

Pre-orders open on August 11, 2026, the same day Google is expected to unveil the Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 11 Pro XL, and Pixel 11 Pro Fold. The phones reach store shelves on August 20. The cheapest SKU at €999 is the 256GB Pixel 11.

How much will the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra cost?

The Fold8 Ultra is the most expensive of the three leaked Samsung foldables, at $2,099 in the US for 256GB. Korean carriers list it at KRW 2,577,000 (~$1,682), and European pricing leaks put it at €2,199. Samsung has not confirmed any figure; the official reveal is set for the July 22, 2026 Galaxy Unpacked in London.

When does Xiaomi’s 18 Pro Max launch?

September 2026 is the launch window pin-cited by tipster Digital Chat Station, with the phone expected to ship first in China. It is tipped as one of the first Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro devices, paired with a 7,000 or 8,500 mAh battery and 100W wired charging.

What changes with the Nothing Phone (4b)?

It is the first entry in Nothing’s new (b) sub-series, sitting a tier below the Phone 4 line. The (4b) carries the company’s largest battery yet at 5,200 mAh, a Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 chipset, and a 6.77-inch 120Hz AMOLED display. UK pricing starts at £299, with India pricing at ₹34,999.

Why are phone prices going up across the board?

AI-driven demand for high-bandwidth DRAM and HBM memory has pushed memory’s share of an $800 smartphone’s bill of materials from 14% in Q1 2025 to 40% in Q3 2026, per industry data cited by SamMobile. Samsung raised its own service parts prices twice in 2026, with the second bump landing this month. Storage floors, battery sizes, and chip sourcing strategies are all moving with the cost line.