If your laptop or phone works well, don't panic-buy any new tech. But if you already planned to upgrade this year, waiting may not save you money. In this market, last year's model might become a luxury you can't afford to ignore. Gartner calls this "memflation," or memory price inflation, and estimates annual DRAM prices will rise by 125% in 2026, while NAND flash prices will rise by 234%. Ubrani advises holding on to your device for as long as you can or making the most of it. "Now is the time to be considering alternatives, like maybe buying a used device or a refurbished device." Gartner'
What Is RAMageddon? Why AI Is Making Laptops and Phones More ExpensiveRAMageddon is the nickname for the AI-driven memory shortage affecting consumer electronics. Before we get all technical, a few memory terms might help explain what's happening. RAM, or random access memory, helps your device juggle tasks. More RAM usually means smoother multitasking, faster app switching and better performance when you have too many browser tabs open because apparently we all live like that now.DRAM, or dynamic RAM, is the working memory used by computers, smartphones, servers and graphics cards. NAND is the storage memory used in smartphones, flash drives and solid-state d
What Is RAMageddon? Why AI Is Making Laptops and Phones More Expensive… HBM, or high-bandwidth memory, is a faster, more expensive type of memory used in AI chips and high-performance data centers. That last type of memory is where AI changes the market. …
… See full bio 4 min read Apple is expecting "significantly higher memory costs" heading into the remainder of 2026, CEO Tim Cook said Thursday during Apple's second-quarter earnings call, as the tech giant faces down the memory shortage impacting the rest of the industry. …
… In an investor call for its earnings report, one of the company's memory chip executives, Kim Jaejune, said, "Based solely on the demand currently received for 2027, the supply-to-demand gap for 2027 is set to widen even further than in 2026." Long-term memory loss Memory prices began increasing s… …
… "Constraints and rising prices around key components like memory, wafers and substrates are driving higher costs that could impact demand for our product at some point in the year," said Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan . …
… This drove up the cost of RAM, and, in turn, the prices of devices that use it also had to go up to accommodate it. Nintendo isn't the only one feeling the pain from this memory shortage. Sony increased the cost of the PS5 Pro , rising from $750 to $900. …
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… The company focused this year's updates on making sure customers have AI processes that are secure, connected to internal systems and "optimize performance, scale and cost of how agents run," he said. …