Laptop battery pricing is going up

Supply chain sources told DigiTimes that the pricing of laptop batteries will see an increase next month. Booming demand from electric vehicles (EVs) and increasing prices of raw materials are to blame for the price hike. Pricing of li-ion batteries is expected to increase 10-20 percent, while lithium polymer batteries have already seen a 20 percent price increase. The more expensive batteries are yet another blow to the weak laptop market, which is getting hit by price hikes of various components:

The sources pointed out that the 18650 battery cores' prices had gone up during the first half of 2017 and with the price increases in September, notebook firms are expected to see their battery costs rise 10-20%.

As for lithium polymer batteries, the sources pointed out that the batteries' quotes have already increased by 20% recently.

Although some notebook players are optimistic that the notebook market is on its way to recovery in 2017, so far the recovery has not been as strong as expected due to component price hikes. Compal Electronics president Ray Chen has recently pointed out that the panel supply for notebooks already stabilized in July-August, but solid state drive (SSD) will remain in tight supply and related prices will continue to climb.