realme 16 Series Just Got Pricier — For the Second Time in 10 Days!

Just when you thought the last price hike was the end of it, realme has gone and done it again. The realme 16 Pro, 16 5G, and C83 5G have all received fresh price increases in India, and this round hits the Pro model the hardest.

realme 16 Series Just Got Pricier: Here’s What Changed

A flat ₹3,000 across every 16 Pro variant is a meaningful jump for a phone that launched at a much friendlier price just months ago. Even the budget-focused C83 5G isn’t spared this time.

What’s Driving the Hikes

realme isn’t being coy about the reason — memory and chipset costs are climbing across the industry, a side effect of the global memory shortage fueled by the ongoing AI hardware boom. It’s why even a phone built around MediaTek’s Dimensity 6400 — a solid but hardly flagship chip — now costs upward of ₹36,000.

This isn’t a realme-only story either. Expect similar repricing from other brands in the coming weeks as the same cost pressures ripple through the market. Our smartphone price tracker keeps tabs on these shifts as they happen.

Buy Now, or Wait It Out?

Given how quickly this series has seen back-to-back hikes — this is the second in ten days, and roughly the fourth since launch — waiting for a price drop doesn’t look like a winning strategy right now. If you’ve had a realme 16 series phone on your list, it might be worth locking in a purchase before the next revision. Current pricing is live on realme’s official India store.

Looking for alternatives at a similar budget? Check our smartphone buying guide for options that haven’t seen recent hikes.

The Takeaway

A MediaTek 6400 phone for ₹36,000 felt like a steal not long ago — now it’s just a decent deal. With chipset and memory costs still rising industry-wide, don’t rule out another hike before the quarter’s out.