It’s been evident for the past few weeks that something was going on over at Samsung. Earlier this month, the company raised the U.S. prices across its A-series phones, otherwise known as the smartphone line that every Guy Who Doesn’t Need Fancy Tech that I know owns. The Galaxy A17 5G, which was $199.99 at launch, received its second hike in a matter of months, and is now listed at $269.99, a whole 35% above its launch price.

I can’t overstate how big of a deal that price hike was: it substantially weakened the A Series’ value proposition. Samsung has been one of the biggest names in the dirt-cheap smartphone market—an area where its major Cupertino-based rival doesn’t even have a pot to piss in—since the A-series hit our shores in 2019. That sub-$200 price point has been part of Samsung’s mobile playbook for many years now, and the idea of its cheapest Galaxy A phone costing $270 was unthinkable not all that long ago.

But scratch your heads no longer: a new report out of Korea may offer us a glimpse behind the scenes. Industry sources are telling Money Today that the company has asked its suppliers to reduce Q4 smartphone deliveries by somewhere between 20% and 30%. That’s not all: the Korean-language report quotes an insider as saying that Samsung is finding it “difficult to break even” on smartphones, though the phrase is clearly rhetorical flair and not a concrete earnings indicator. Oh, and the source explains what’s causing all of this commotion in Seoul.

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