Prices are ballooning for Android phones and iPhones. The $1,000 price tag that shocked us in late 2017 when Apple unveiled the iPhone X became practically normal a year later when Samsung and Huawei followed suit. Now, foldable phones like the Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X and others coming up, and 5G-ready devices, like the Galaxy S10 5G and plenty more, will soon leap into the marketplace for costs that well exceed $1,000. 

For example, the Galaxy Fold starts at $1,980 (roughly £1,500 or AU$2,800) for the 4G version, a price that Samsung justifies by virtue of its foldable phone being a luxury device that's also a true phone-tablet hybrid. (Samsung hasn't shown off the Fold in person yet, apart from a presentation piece behind glass.) The company hasn't announced pricing for either of its 5G products, the Galaxy Fold 5G or the Galaxy S10 5G, which is expected later this summer. The Galaxy Fold goes on sale April 26.

Meanwhile, Huawei's foldable phone, the Mate X, will cost buyers 2,300 euros, or roughly $2,600. That's high for a phone swathed in leather and sapphire crystal, and unprecedented for one made of plastic. Huawei, too, positions the foldable Mate X in this new category of hybrid devices.

Even 4G "candybar"-shaped phones in 2019 that don't bend and don't have 5G are seeing price inflation. The Galaxy S10 ($900) costs 20 percent more than the median price of the Galaxy S9 ($850). Likewise, the budget-minded Motorola G7 ($299) rose 20 percent from the Moto G6 ($249). Even the OnePlus 6T crept up 3.8 percent from the OnePlus 6 ($529) over the course of four months.

And that's for the starting models. Level up your storage capacity and phones become more costly still. For example, if you want an iPhone XS ($1,000) with 512GB storage capacity, you'll pay 35 percent more ($1,349). 

While there are certain conditions nudging prices higher, this triumvirate of rising costs is making most phones explosively expensive in 2019. New technologies and designs like foldable screens and 5G speeds are pushing prices higher in the name of advancement, but they are also positioning brands to create an ultra high-end segment that can make each sale more profitable. That's important in a climate where phone sales are slowing, and people hold onto their devices for three years or more. 

The fact that people buy increasingly costly handsets in the top tier underscores the cell phone's importance as an everything-device for communication, work, photography and entertainment. And as processing power, camera technology, battery life and internet data speeds improve generation after generation, the value people attach to a phone is sure to swell.  

"Consumers are prepared to pay a premium for a mobile phone because it is arguably the most important product in their lives," said Ben Wood, the chief research analyst at CCS Insight.

The data from 13 phone models from 2016 to 2019 shows a pattern of sharp price hikes that we expect to heighten in 2019 and beyond (see chart below). 

Rising prices aren't unusual on their own. Faster, better components like processors and multiplying cameras cost more to make. The financial load of researching and developing new materials also gets folded into the final product. 

And inflation affects the cost of goods outside of tech, too. But R&D spending and inflation don't tell the entire story your phone's creeping expense. 

Read: Galaxy S10 5G and OnePlus 5G phones: 6 things you need to know now

Yep, your phone costs more every year

With few exceptions, phone prices from top brands are on the rise. The uptick is immediately noticeable when comparing phone prices from today with the same model released two or in some cases, three, years ago.

Apple's prices have risen at a steady rate for both its standard size iPhone along with the Plus and Max lines, making the iPhone XS Max a luxury spinoff. Samsung's Galaxy S, S Plus and Note prices are swinging upward too for standard models. 

Yes, the Galaxy S10E comes in at a lower $750, but the Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10 Plus are more expensive now than their Galaxy S9 equivalents were a year ago.

US phone prices from 2016-2019

	2016 (starting price)	2017 (starting price)	2018 (starting price)	2019 (starting price)	% change of highest price from 2016 to current model
Galaxy S10 E	N/A	N/A	N/A	Galaxy S10E: $750	N/A
Samsung Galaxy	Galaxy S7: $650-695	Galaxy S8: $720-$750	Galaxy S9: $720-$800	Galaxy S10: $900	29.5%
Samsung Galaxy Plus	S7 Edge: $750-795	Galaxy S8 Plus: $785-$850	Galaxy S9 Plus: $840-$930	Galaxy S10 Plus: $1,000	25.8%
Samsung Galaxy Note	Note 7: $834-880	Note 8: $930-960	Note 9: $1,000	Expected Aug 2019	13.6%
Motorola Moto G	Moto G4: $199	Moto G5 Plus (no Moto G5 in the US): $229	Moto G6: $249	Moto G7: $299	50%
LG G series	LG G5: $576-689	LG G6: $600-720	LG G7: $750-790	LG G8: TBD	14.7%
LG V series	LG V20: $672-829	LG V30: $800-912	LG V40: $900-$980	LG V50: TBD	18.2%
iPhone (cheapest)	iPhone 7: $649	iPhone 8: $699	iPhone XR: $749	Expected Sept. 2019	15.4%
iPhone X	N/A	iPhone X: $999	iPhone XS: $999	Expected Sept. 2019	0%
iPhone Plus/Max	iPhone 7 Plus: $769	iPhone 8 Plus: $799	iPhone XS Max: $1,099	Expected Sept. 2019	42.9%
OnePlus	OnePlus 3: $399	OnePlus 5: $479 / OnePlus 5T: $499	OnePlus 6: $529 / OnePlus 6T: $549	Expected June 2019	37.6%
Google Pixel	Pixel: $649	Pixel 2: $649	Pixel 3: $799	Expected Oct. 2019	23.10%
Google Pixel Plus	Pixel XL: $769	Pixel 2 XL: $849	Pixel 3 XL: $899	Expected Oct. 2019	16.9%

We've seen steady escalation from OnePlus, whose price jumps up each time a new model arrives. OnePlus is currently on track for two variations per year: the OnePlus 6T launched in Oct. 2018 for $549 for the base configuration. 

The OnePlus 7's rumored $569 price tag seems like a negligible bump, especially since it'll still cost almost half the price of a $1,000 phone. Regardless, the cost of ownership to you is on the rise.

"As reliance on smartphones has increased drastically over a short amount of time, the increase in quality and components across the industry required to meet high performance demands has also risen," a OnePlus representative said last August.

According to LG, "Key [pricing] factors include the cost of components, competitor pricing, carrier incentives, tariffs, etc.," Ken Hong, LG's senior director of global communications, said in an email. "Fact is, these input costs are rising so we're forced to follow suit."

CNET reached out to all manufacturers mentioned in this story for comment.

Interestingly, the Pixel 2 and