{"id":281483,"date":"2025-11-24T23:42:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T23:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/281483\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T23:42:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T23:42:11","slug":"ai-is-making-every-gadget-cost-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/281483\/","title":{"rendered":"AI Is Making Every Gadget Cost More"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just when we thought we were settled into the new normal of tariff-borne PC and gaming console price hikes<\/a>, next year\u2019s devices are set to be even more expensive. You can blame the current favorite buzzword\u2014AI\u2014for the increasing cost of RAM and flash storage. All computers depend on memory to some extent, but those who want the biggest, best PCs or gaming devices will feel the sticker shock worst of all.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve been reporting about the spiking cost of RAM prices since October<\/a>. Essentially, AI data centers have such a demand for memory that the prices of SSDs (solid state drives), DRAM (dynamic random access memory), and HDDs (hard disk drives) are all ballooning in price. This is most keenly felt in the discrete PC RAM market.<\/a> Corsair, one of the most popular brands for fast, gaming-ready RAM sticks, told Gizmodo over email, \u201cOur DRAM prices have increased in response to the severe supply shortage we are seeing across the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

PCs are getting screwed by RAM prices \"AlienwareYour PC components, like the RAM sticks and GPU, could cost even more in 2026. \u00a9 Adriano Contreras \/ Gizmodo <\/p>\n

And it just keeps getting worse. A pack of 64GB DDR5 RAM<\/a> from memory brand Crucial spiked from $150 to more than $400 in just two months, as evidenced by the Amazon price tracking site camelcamelcamel<\/a>. Other, lower-end RAM sticks may see less of a bump, but users will inevitably find the more RAM they want, the more it will cost. Four sticks of 16GB DDR5 RAM<\/a> from Corsair now sell for an astronomical $688. The same sticks in white demand $948. And they\u2019re not even the priciest RAM available.<\/p>\n

Memory prices will inevitably impact the laptop industry as well.<\/p>\n

Holy shit, we are so cooked pic.twitter.com\/557knWqz3G<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Pirat_Nation \ud83d\udd34 (@Pirat_Nation) November 23, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

PCs are getting hit the hardest, especially if you had hopes of finally upgrading your desktop tower with new components. After months of scarcity, the price of GPUs from both Nvidia and AMD has normalized closer to the original suggested retail price. A Radeon RX 9070 XT<\/a> remains a hot commodity and is still going for more than $600 MSRP at most retailers. However, numerous leakers have proposed that GPUs could see price hikes due to the ballooning cost of VRAM.<\/p>\n

PowerColor, one of AMD\u2019s board partners who makes discrete GPUs, took to Reddit<\/a> last week (via VideoCardz<\/a>) to tell users to \u201cbuy before the last week of the year before prices kick up.\u201d The PR rep in this case was referring to possible deals happening before Black Friday but added in an update that this was in response to consumers \u201casking for advice on if they should \u2018buy now\u2019 because of market conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AmdThe AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT could cost even more going into next year. \u00a9 Photo: Adriano Contreras \/ Gizmodo <\/p>\n

Taiwanese media outlet UDN<\/a> further claimed, based on anonymous sources, that AMD GPU prices could go up from several major board partners, including Gigabyte and Asus, as well as PowerColor.<\/p>\n

Gamers better expect higher prices, too \"Xbox\u00a9 Adriano Contreras \/ Gizmodo <\/p>\n

Consoles won\u2019t be spared of potential price hikes, either. Microsoft\u2019s Xbox brand pushed the cost of tariffs onto consumers<\/a> twice in 2025 with its Xbox Series X and Series S<\/a>. Now, the high-end console with a disc drive costs $650, $150 more than it did at launch five years ago. YouTuber \u201cMoore\u2019s Law Is Dead<\/a>,\u201d who has consistently leaked information on unreleased AMD hardware, claimed in a recent video that Microsoft is telling partners that it may need to jack up prices for Xbox consoles once more, or else stock could significantly diminish \u201csooner rather than later.\u201d<\/p>\n

The YouTuber further claimed that Sony \u201cplanned ahead, bought up gobs of RAM near the bottom of the pricing, and thus they should be fine for months.\u201d That\u2019s small comfort, however, for those who still plan to buy a Nintendo Switch 2<\/a>. The system comes with 256GB of internal storage, and you need Express-level microSD cards<\/a> to expand that limited storage capacity. Technohouse Toei, a Japan-centric computer store, told the Japanese outlet IT Media<\/a> (read by machine translation) that it\u2019s getting more difficult to acquire large-capacity microSD cards.<\/p>\n

\"AmicroSD Express cards could cost more going into next year, with Samsung reportedly proposing price hikes. \u00a9 Adriano Contreras \/ Gizmodo <\/p>\n

Analysts anticipate that flash storage prices will climb through the roof in early 2026. Citing reports from the Commercial Times<\/a> and Reuters<\/a>, analyst firm TrendForce<\/a> reported late last week that the makers of NAND storage are \u201ctaking turns raising prices.\u201d And this situation may not get any better over the following months. Sure, TrendForce said the memory sector is going to grow as fast as the tale of Jack\u2019s beanstalk, but that won\u2019t necessarily fix demand. Earlier this month, Korean-centric newspaper Chosun Biz<\/a> reported that major flash storage manufacturers like Samsung and SK Hynix actually cut supply in the second half of 2025. Samsung is \u201cinternally reviewing\u201d price hikes of 20% to 30%, according to Chosun.<\/p>\n

Either memory production has to increase to meet demand, or else the AI data centers have to stop sucking down the world\u2019s supply of SSDs and HDDs. The sooner the AI bubble bursts<\/a>, the better it will be for PC prices.<\/p>\n