Qualcomm is struggling to meet increased demand for its Snapdragon chipsets with multiple sourcing challenges affecting its production strategy. Ripple effects could prioritize premium tier more at the expense of more affordable devices and longer waits for orders.

Sources at suppliers to Samsung – the most popular Android phone brand and a production partner for Snapdragon chips – tell Reuters the Korean OEM is facing shortages across the entire Snapdragon lineup, down to the flagship Snapdragon 888. This has not been said. whether this has resulted in a slowdown in smartphone production. Meanwhile, an executive with a smartphone ODM with several major branded contracts says his company will have to cut shipping forecasts this year due to a general shortage of Qualcomm components.

A few factors are suspected to be contributing to the squeeze, some of which include: devastating winter storms in Texas that cut power to a Samsung plant that manufactures radio frequency transceivers for Qualcomm; a slowdown in the production of power management chips in China and Taiwan, and; panic buying due to the scarcity in the larger chip market that has driven prices up exponentially without the guarantee that inventory is arriving just in time. Qualcomm is supposed to direct most of its valuable components to building more Snapdragon 888 products than low-end chips.

What hasn’t helped are the burdens on Huawei – the Chinese phone maker is under an import ban from the United States that effectively prevents the company from using goods, services and intellectual property like Android operating system, Qualcomm parts and Arm chip plans. As such, those who were previously fans of the company’s affordable yet powerful phones have faced major changes in their products or, more likely, rebranding.

If you’re looking to buy a phone this year, you might want to take it as a signal to check it out ASAP.