Technology executives are warning customers to look for higher prices on the next batch of products as rising memory costs become too much for companies to absorb.
“Unfortunately, price increases are inevitable,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement The Wall Street Journal interview last week. “We are doing everything possible to reduce the large increase that is passed on to us, and we have been trying to protect our customers from the increase, but the situation is not consistent.”
The problem: Only three companies make memory chips, called “RAM,” and all of them are facing incredible demand because again produce memory that powers AI data centers. As AI companies hold back supply, consumer electronics makers are struggling to secure chips at mainstream prices. Now they are passing those higher costs on to customers.
Globally, Morgan Stanley predicts a 15% shortage of memory in computers (equivalent to a component demand of 58 million units) and a 12% shortage in smartphones (134 million units) by 2027.
“Companies may have to raise prices, reduce information, delay launches and accept lower profits,” said Shawn Kim, head of Morgan Stanley’s technology team in Europe and Asia, in a podcast episode earlier this month. “AI is very memory hungry … and if only, data centers take up a very large share of memory.”
A related supply crunch affects the NAND flash memory, or “storage” of your device, and experts say it could take years for manufacturers to meet the growing demand from the AI industry.
It’s not just iPhones that will be affected, either: Smartphone prices are expected to rise by 20% this year around the world, according to the International Data Corporation. Tablets, laptops and gaming devices also depend on these components, so their prices are destined to rise, too.
Here are five tech items that are more expensive due to memory crunch:
Apple products
Will iPhone, iPad and Macbook prices all jump in the coming months? Cook did not confirm a specific increase, but some analysts think it is possible.
“There’s less available at a time when consumers are looking for devices and recalls are on the rise,” Cook told the newspaper. Journal. “We definitely need memory prices and supply to get back to reasonable levels for consumer products. That’s what’s important.”
The next release of the iPhone is expected in September. I The Wall Street Journal estimates that the iPhone 18 Pro could cost $1,299, which would be a $200 jump over the price tag of the base iPhone 17 Pro. (This number is based on a third-party analysis of component prices.)
Laptops
Microsoft’s new Surface Laptops with Snapdragon X2 chips have a starting price of $1,599.99 for the 13.8-inch model with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD. That’s a $600 increase from the 2024 launch price of the previous version, which had the same amount of memory and RAM, according to It has strings.
An extraordinary increase in consumer technology products, even considering advanced processors. The company blames “recent increases in memory and component costs,” a spokesperson told Windows Central.
Besides Apple and Microsoft, HP executives cited the need for price increases “across the board” during an earnings call in February, while Dell raised prices for corporate customers.
Tablets
Samsung has raised the prices of its Galaxy tablets in recent weeks between $50 and $220. These increases may not reflect the prices customers pay, as some models are now being sold at previous levels.
The new 13-inch Microsoft Surface Pro, a tablet and PC, launched with a starting price of $1,499.99, which is a $500 increase over the launch price of the 2024 model.
Handheld gaming machines
On May 7, Nintendo announced a $50 price increase on the Switch 2 ($449.99 to $499.99), which will go into effect on September 1.
“This is in response to various changes in market conditions, which are expected to continue for some time,” Nintendo said in a press release.
Last month, Valve increased the price of the Steam Deck OLED (512 GB) – used for PC games on the go – from $549 to $789, explaining “the current state of component costs and other global challenges.” The Steam Store website currently notes that the device “may occasionally fail in some regions due to a lack of memory and storage.”
Xbox and PlayStation consoles
Microsoft raised Xbox prices in May 2025 and again in October. The 512 GB Xbox Series S now costs $399.99, while the 1 TB Series X starts at $599.99.
The PlayStation 5 carries a $599 price tag for the base version of the Sony console, which comes with 825 GB of storage. The current price went into effect in April, with the company saying the increase of $100 or more is “due to ongoing pressures in the global economic environment.”
