Bargains are disappearing and the cost of gadgets such as MacBooks and PS5s is rising as AI competes for memory chips
The end of the cheap laptop, the bargain phone and affordable games consoles may be on the horizon. Not because new models are more hi-tech, but because the cost of computer components has shot up.
Recently, the biggest manufacturers of laptops and phones, including Microsoft, Samsung and Dell, started putting up prices and pulling cheaper models – which is going to make finding budget phones and laptops under £400 much harder.
The root cause is a shortage of memory chips which the tech press has dubbed “RAMageddon”. But it isn’t a conflict or lack of materials causing the shortage, it is the growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and the datacentres the technology relies on.
Memory chips are crucial to just about every modern piece of electronics and are also used in other important components such as graphics cards, creating a knock-on effect.
