RAM price hikes: the latest on the global memory shortage – The Verge

Valve raises Steam Deck prices by more than $200

2026-05-27T13:47:36-04:00

Valve has significantly increased the price of the Steam Deck - but now, it's also in stock. The 512GB Steam Deck OLED now costs $789, up from $549, while the 1TB model costs $949, up from $649. As I write this, both models are available to buy on Steam with an estimated delivery date of three to five business days.

The company says the price increase is because of "rising memory and storage costs." Nothing about the Steam Deck has changed, but "these new prices reflect the current state of component costs and other global logistical challenges across the industry as a whole. We'll keep you updated if anything changes."

Some refurbished St …

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Redmagic’s liquid-cooled gaming phone arrives with overclocked Snapdragon chip

2026-05-27T08:12:48-04:00

Liquid cooling returns and is now visible on every version of the phone.

Nubia has announced the international launch of the Redmagic 11S Pro, its new flagship Android gaming phone. It's not a significant change from the 11 Pro, which launched internationally last November, but has been upgraded to the overclocked Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Leading Version.

Otherwise things look similar. There's a large 7,500mAh battery, fast 80W charging, and a 144Hz screen with an under-display camera. The company's AquaCore cooling returns, combining a 24,000 RPM fan with a true liquid cooling system - not the simple vapor chamber found on other phones. The big downside to the 11S Pro is that the RAM caps at 16GB and the storag …

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Samsung’s memory chip employees negotiated $340,000 bonuses this year

2026-05-22T07:17:51-04:00

48,000 Samsung workers had threatened to strike unless bonus caps were lifted. | Photo: Jung Yeon-je / AFP via Getty Images

Details have emerged about a tentative deal struck between Samsung and semiconductor employees who had threatened to strike. The deal reportedly makes some workers eligible for average annual bonuses of $340,000.

The proposed 18-day strike had hinged on Samsung's bonus cap for employees in the semiconductor division and followed a substantial rise in the possible bonuses available to employees of SK Hynix, another South Korean chipmaker enjoying a boom thanks to demand for AI components.

Under the terms of the new deal, Reuters reports that all chip workers will receive 50 percent of their annual salary as a regular bonus in cash. Further …

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Samsung has a tentative deal with workers to avoid a memory chip strike

2026-05-20T12:36:56-04:00

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Samsung Electronics workers attended a rally outside the company's semiconductor plant in Pyeongtaek on April 23rd, ahead of the planned strike. | Photo by SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg via Getty Images

More 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.

While the union had agreed to mediation proposed by South Korea's National Labor …

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The future of game consoles is looking bleak

2026-05-08T10:36:08-04:00

It'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 g …

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Sony’s PS5 sales plummet amid price rises and a memory crisis

2026-05-08T06:46:01-04:00

Sony 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 …

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Nintendo is raising Switch 2 prices

2026-05-08T05:43:32-04:00

Nintendo 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 o …

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Apple’s $599 MacBook Neo could be at risk from rising RAM prices

2026-05-07T11:05:37-04:00

The 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 RA …

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The Pixel 11 could be the next victim of the RAM shortage

2026-05-04T13:47:11-04:00

Google'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 tha …

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Apple raises the Mac Mini’s starting price

2026-05-01T17:52:21-04:00

Apple'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 b …

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