Random access memory, or RAM, is in just about every piece of technology we use. But it’s also the technology that AI companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Meta are using to power the servers in their massive data centers. Now, the world’s biggest memory makers — Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron — are taking advantage of a surge in demand, shifting their resources away from consumer-focused products and toward more lucrative deals with AI companies.The result is a severe shortage in RAM for consumer products, which is not only contributing to price hikes on the RAM kits used by PC builders but also for the manufacturers of a range of devices, including laptops, smartphones, gaming consoles, and a whole lot more. Some companies, like Raspberry Pi and Framework, have already raised the prices of their products as a result of the increase, while others, like Dell, Asus, Acer, Xiaomi, and Nothing, have warned about price hikes coming soon.It doesn’t look like the RAM shortage is going to subside anytime soon, as analysts at the International Data Corporation predict that it could “persist well into 2027.” Here’s all the latest news on the rising price of RAM.HighlightsThe future of game consoles is looking bleakThe AI RAM shortage is also driving up SSD prices‘The era of bargain-priced PCs and tablets is behind us’: PC shipments expected to drop 11 percent.Phone makers of all sizes are feeling the RAM crunchThe RAM shortage is coming for everything you care aboutThe RAM crunch could kill products and even entire companies, memory exec admitsThe RAM shortage is here to stay, raising prices on PCs and phonesRAM is ruining everythingSamsung has a tentative deal with workers to avoid a memory chip strikeMore than 47,000 Samsung Electronics workers were gearing up for an 18-day strike after bonus payment negotiations between the company and its union collapsed. The strike was set to start on Thursday at Samsung’s domestic chipmaking plants, raising concerns around the already constrained production of memory chips amid the ongoing shortage.Later on Wednesday, both parties announced that labor and management had reached a tentative agreement. On its website, the union confirmed strike plans have been suspended until further notice, pending a vote on the deal.Read Article >The future of game consoles is looking bleakPhoto: Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The VergeIt’s been a real good news / bad news week for Nintendo. Out of nowhere on Wednesday, the company announced a lush remake of Star Fox 64, jolting the dormant franchise to life and helping to fill out a relatively sparse lineup for the Switch 2 for the rest of the year. But then on Friday, Nintendo announced news that had seemed inevitable, but is nonetheless significant: the Switch 2 is getting a price hike and will soon cost $50 more. Nintendo was the last holdout in a console space that has been ravaged by rising costs thanks to a combination of tariffs and the global memory shortage. And with the Switch 2 getting more expensive, console gaming is continuing its slow and steady march toward becoming a niche, luxury good.Price hikes have become common for gadgets, and consoles are perhaps the most visible example. Historically these devices have become cheaper over time, but now the opposite is true. Microsoft raised the prices of the Xbox and its various accessories last spring, while the cost of a PS5 has risen multiple times over the last year. Even budget devices like the Nex Playground now cost more. What makes the Nintendo news notable is that the company appears to have been holding out for as long as it could. The Switch 2 is less than a year old, and the company clearly didn’t want to mess with its initial sales momentum. So it started out by finding places to claw back some lost revenue around the edges. That meant raising the price of the original Switch, a few accessories, and even oddball devices like the Alarmo alarm clock. But the company clearly wasn’t happy about any of it; Nintendo is currently suing the US government over its illegal tariffs, demanding a “prompt refund, with interest.”Read Article >Sony’s PS5 sales plummet amid price rises and a memory crisisPhoto by Vjeran Pavic / The VergeSony sold just 1.5 million PS5 consoles in its most recent fourth fiscal quarter, down 46 percent year over year. The slump in PS5 sales comes after Sony raised the price of its PS5 consoles twice over the past year, pushing the price of the regular PS5 from $499.99 all the way up to $649.99.Sony blamed “continued pressures in the global economic landscape,” for the price hikes in March, amid an ongoing memory crisis and pressure from the war in Iran. Sony now forecasts that annual gaming revenue will drop 6 percent, but these forecasts could be impacted by ongoing memory costs. “We plan to base our PS5 hardware sales in FY26 on the volume of memory we can procure at reasonable prices and we expect hardware profitability to be essentially the same as FY25,” says Sony.Read Article >Nintendo is raising Switch 2 pricesPhoto: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The VergeNintendo is raising the price of its Switch 2 console globally, “in light of changes in market conditions,” and is now forecasting a drop in sales over the next year. Starting September 1st, the Switch 2 will cost $499.99 in the US, up from its current $449.99 price.At the same time, prices will also increase by $50 in Canada ($679.99, up from $629.99) and €40 in Europe, bringing it to €499.99 (about $587). The price increases in Japan go into effect sooner, on May 25th, and impact a greater range of Switch products. The Switch 2 will increase from ¥49,980 (about $318) to ¥59,980 (about $382), with similar increases being applied to the original Switch, Switch OLED, and Switch Lite models.Read Article >Big Tech is offering big gifts in exchange for RAM.Apple’s $599 MacBook Neo could be at risk from rising RAM pricesPhoto by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The VergeThe MacBook Neo might lose its most appealing trait thanks to the ongoing RAM shortage. According to analyst Tim Culpan, Apple could discontinue the budget-priced $599 base configuration of the Neo, leaving only the $699 model with 512GB of storage. Earlier this week, Apple similarly stopped selling the most affordable configuration of the Mac mini, effectively bumping its starting price up to $799. In March, Apple removed the option for 512GB of RAM in the Mac Studio, likely also as a result of RAM shortages.Ironically, the MacBook Neo could face similar pricing changes because of its huge initial success. The Neo arrived right as the RAM shortage is pushing up prices for competitors’ laptops (and just about everything else), and the laptop has been such a hit that there’s currently a two to three-week wait for it to ship on Apple’s website. In response to this, Culpan says Apple is doubling production for the Neo to 10 million units, rather than the 5 to 6 million it initially planned for.Read Article >The RAM shortage’s next victim is another powerful handheld.Apple axes more Mac Mini and Studio models.After cutting the Mac Mini’s base model, Apple is now also nixing its 32GB and 64GB RAM options, along with the 256GB RAM version of the Mac Studio. RAM prices are likely to blame, not helped by AI-driven demand for the two small Macs: both computers currently have weeks-long shipping estimates from Apple’s online store.The Pixel 11 could be the next victim of the RAM shortagePhoto: Owen Grove / The VergeGoogle’s next round of Pixel phones could be a downgrade compared to the Pixel 10 lineup due to the ongoing RAM shortage. Leaked specs for the Pixel 11 lineup shared by MysticLeaks include a possible starting configuration with only 8GB of RAM, rather than the current 12GB, as Android Headlines reports.According to MysticLeaks, Google may also add a second configuration for the Pixel 11 Pro, Pro XL, and Pro Fold with 12GB of RAM, down from the current 16GB in each model. There will be 16GB configurations available for each, but adding a lower-spec model could mean the 16GB version is getting a price hike. However, the silver lining is that the specs from MysticLeaks also include camera upgrades and brighter displays for the Pro models.Read Article >Apple raises the Mac Mini’s starting pricePhoto by Chris Welch / The VergeApple’s Mac Mini now starts at $799 after the company pulled the $599 option with 256GB of storage from its online store, as spotted earlier by MacRumors. The model’s discontinuation comes just one day after Apple CEO Tim Cook said during an earnings call that a chip shortage will impact its Mac products in the coming months.“If you look forward to June, the majority of our supply constraints will be on several Mac models,” Cook said. “We think looking forward that the Mac Mini and the Mac Studio may take several months to reach supply-demand balance.” He added that both devices saw “higher-than-expected demand” as well, with many people buying up the device to use with AI agents like OpenClaw.Read Article >Rising memory prices will have an “increasing impact” on Apple’s business.Apple CEO Tim Cook said during an earnings call that the company expects “significantly higher memory costs” in the upcoming quarter. He added that Apple will “look at a range of options” to address the global shortage.Samsung says the RAM shortage could get even worse next yearImage: Alex Castro / The VergeThere may be a long wait before the end of the RAM shortage that’s driving up prices on everything from phones to gaming handhelds. During an earnings call on Thursday, Samsung predicted that the severe memory shortage, driven by demand from AI data centers, will not only continue next year, but likely get worse, as reported by Reuters.As Samsung memory chip business executive Kim Jaejune stated during the earnings call:Read Article >Ayaneo is raising prices for most of its products due to the RAM shortage.Image: AyaneoA GPU with more memory? In this economy?Nvidia is launching a 12GB version of its RTX 5070 laptop GPU, to go along with the existing 8GB configuration. Nvidia’s blog post explains how this will actually help supply during the RAM shortage:In order to maximize memory availability, we are releasing the GeForce RTX 5070 Laptop GPU 12GB configuration with 24Gb G7 memory. This gives our partners access to an additional pool of memory to complement the 16Gb G7 supply that currently ships with most GeForce GPUs. The 12GB configuration will exist alongside the current 8GB configuration, and allows our partners to bring a broader range of GeForce RTX 5070 laptops to consumers.The RAM shortage could get even worse if Samsung labor protests cut productionThe RAM shortage caused by demand from AI datacenters is already driving up prices on phones, PS5s, and Raspberry Pis, but it could be about to get even worse. Samsung is facing employee protests over demands for wages that are more competitive with rival chip manufacturer SK Hynix, including removing Samsung’s cap on bonus pay, allocating more money for bonuses, and raising base salaries. According to AP News, an estimated 40,000 union members attended a rally on Thursday outside Samsung’s Pyeongtaek, South Korea chip manufacturing facility.If the union and management can’t come to an agreement, the union is planning an 18-day strike beginning on May 21st. As reported by Reuters, output for Samsung’s foundry and memory chips “dropped 58 percent ​and 18 percent, respectively, during the ⁠overnight shift on Thursday as unionized workers attended a protest ​demanding higher wages.”Read Article >Asus’ Zenbook Duo is finally up for preorder but costs $400 more than expected.The dual-screen Zenbook Duo I reviewed in January was said to cost $2,399.99 with an Intel Core Ultra X9 388H. Now preorders are open, but a base model costs $2,499.99 and the 388H configuration I tested will be $2,699.99. Ouch.We reached out to Asus for the reason, but company reps did not immediately reply. Seems like RAMageddon claims another.The Lenovo Legion Go S is RAMageddon’s latest victimPhoto: Sean Hollister / The VergeThe RAM shortage could last yearsImage: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty ImagesAccording to Nikkei Asia, even as suppliers ramp up DRAM production, manufacturers are only expected to meet 60 percent of demand by the end of 2027. SK Group chairman has even said that shortages could last until 2030.The world’s largest memory makers — Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron — are all working to add new fabrication capacity, but almost none of it will be online until at least 2027, if not 2028. SK opened a fab in Cheongju in February, but that is the only increase in production among the three for 2026.Read Article >AYN’s dual-screen gaming handheld is getting a price increase due to the memory crisis.With the next batch of pre-orders, the Thor Max model with 1TB of storage is getting a $100 price hike to $549, according to a Discord announcement.AYN is also switching from UFS 4.0 storage to the slower UFS 3.1 storage starting with the next pre-orders of the Thor and the AYN Odin 3 because “UFS 4.0 is no longer available at a sustainable level.”Meta blames RAM shortage for $100 Quest 3 price hikePhoto by Becca Farsace / The VergeMeta is the next tech company to hike up hardware prices due to the global memory shortage.Beginning April 19th, Meta’s 128GB Quest 3S VR headset will cost $349.99, the 256GB Quest 3S will cost $449.99, and the Quest 3 will cost $599.99. Those are increases of $50 for both Quest 3S models and $100 for the Quest 3.Read Article >Samsung is hiking the prices of its Galaxy phones and tabletsAllison Johnson / The VergeSamsung is raising prices across Galaxy Z Flip 7, Galaxy S25 FE, and Galaxy S25 Edge phones, as spotted earlier by Phone Arena. Though the base model of each phone is staying at the same price, devices with higher storage are now up to $80 more expensive:Last week, Samsung also increased the price of the Galaxy Z Fold 7, bringing its 1TB model from $2,419 to $2,499, while the 512GB version jumped from $2,119 to $2,199. Samsung’s price hikes don’t just end with its phones, however, as Phone Arena spotted increases across its tablet lineup, regardless of storage.Read Article >RAMageddon has come for Microsoft’s Surface Pro and Surface LaptopPhoto by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The VergeMicrosoft just raised the prices across its line of Surface devices amid the global RAM shortage. Now, the 13-inch Surface Pro 11 and the 13.8-inch Surface Laptop 7 cost $500 more than their original starting price, going from $999 to $1,499, as reported earlier by Windows Central.Last year, Microsoft stopped selling the $999 versions of the Surface Pro 11 and the 13.8-inch Surface Laptop 7 in favor of the $1,199 models with more storage. At the time, it seemed like Microsoft was trying to make room for the cheaper 12-inch Surface Pro and 13-inch Surface Laptop that launched last May. However, these newer devices aren’t safe from the price hikes, either, as the starting price for the 12-inch Surface Pro has gone up from $799 to $1,049, while the 13-inch Surface Laptop is jumping from $899 to $1,199.Read Article >The AI RAM shortage is also driving up SSD pricesImage: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty ImagesI thought the WD Black SN850X 2TB SSD in my gaming PC was pricey when I bought it for $173 in 2024, but now that same SSD costs $649, more than what I paid for most of the parts in my PC combined. The price on my WD Black drive nearly quadrupled since November 2025, and consumer SSDs across the board are seeing similar increases, much like with RAM:According to price trends from PC Part Picker, NVMe SSD prices began ticking upward in December 2025, with prices on 256GB to 4TB SSDs now double or triple what they were just a few months ago, and continuing to climb.Read Article >Lenovo Legion Go 2 suddenly costs $650 more as RAMageddon lays waste to gaming hardwareRemember when we thought the Legion Go 2 was expensive at $1,099 and up? Those were the days — Best Buy is now listing Lenovo’s handheld for $1,499 with a Ryzen Z2 or $1,999 with a Z2 Extreme. The latter originally cost $1,349, so that’s a $650 jump in just six months.And yes, that means Lenovo’s flagship may now cost twice as much as a $999 Microsoft/Asus Xbox Ally X with the same AMD chip, as much as a far more powerful GPD Win 5 with AMD Strix Halo cost last year. But the way things are going, it’s probably only a matter of time till Microsoft hikes its handheld Xbox price too. (For now, Asus rep Anthony Spence tells me there’s “no price increase on the horizon, so far as I can tell,” at least in the US.)Read Article >These Raspberry Pi price hikes are no jokeImage: Raspberry PiAs of today, the price of the 16GB version of the Raspberry Pi 5 is going up by $100, a price bump that’s almost as much as the original $120 price tag. Driven by the ongoing RAM shortage, Raspberry Pi is raising prices on over a dozen of its bare-bones computers, after previous increases in December and February. The increases range from $11.25 to $150.In a blog post announcing the price increases, Raspberry Pi CEO Eben Upton reiterated that they won’t be permanent, stating, “The circumstances in which we find ourselves are challenging, but in the future they will abate. When they do, we will reverse our price increases, and until they do, we will continue to work hard to limit their impact in every way we can.”Read Article >More Stories