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

The Lenovo Legion Go S is RAMageddon’s latest victim

2026-04-20T19:17:42-04:00

You can still find the Asus Xbox Ally X and the MSI Claw 8 AI Plus for $999 and $1,049 respectively, but Lenovo's Legion Go S has seemingly given up the fight. The best version of Lenovo's 8-inch handheld now costs nearly double what it did at launch - originally $829.99 last summer, the SteamOS version with Z1 Extreme chip now costs a staggering $1,579.99 at Best Buy.

That's an even bigger price hike than with Lenovo's flagship Legion Go 2, which saw up to a $650 price hike early this month.

Not every Legion Go S model costs nearly double what it did before, but none are anywhere near what they originally cost. The Windows Z1 Extreme mo …

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The RAM shortage could last years

2026-04-20T05:28:13-04:00

According 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.

Nikkei says that production would need to increase by 12 percent a year in 2026 and 2027 to meet demand. But according to Counte …

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Meta blames RAM shortage for $100 Quest 3 price hike

2026-04-15T18:19:21-04:00

Meta 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.

Refurbished units will be getting a price hike, too. The refurbished 128GB and 256GB Quest 3S models are similarly getting a $50 bump to $319.99 and $409.99, while a refurbished Quest 3 will cost $549.99, a $170 increase. Accessories will keep their current prices.

"We're making this change because the cost of building high-p …

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Samsung is hiking the prices of its Galaxy phones and tablets

2026-04-14T09:34:06-04:00

Samsung 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:

Galaxy Z Flip 7 (512GB): $1,219.99 to $1,299.99
Galaxy S25 FE (256GB): $709.99 to $749.99
Galaxy S25 Edge (512GB) $1,219.99 to $1,299.99

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 Aren …

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RAMageddon has come for Microsoft’s Surface Pro and Surface Laptop

2026-04-13T16:45:41-04:00

Microsoft 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 pric …

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The AI RAM shortage is also driving up SSD prices

2026-04-08T15:32:49-04:00

I 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:

The 4TB version of the popular Samsung 990 Pro SSD previously cost $320, but will now run you nearly $1,000.
External SanDisk SSDs saw a 200 percent price hike at the Apple Store in March.
Sony has announced that it's suspending orders for its SD and CFexpress cards.
Modular PC brand …

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Lenovo Legion Go 2 suddenly costs $650 more as RAMageddon lays waste to gaming hardware

2026-04-03T16:36:15-04:00

The Legion Go 2’s mouse mode, unique among Windows handhelds. | Photo: Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

Remember 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 pric …

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These Raspberry Pi price hikes are no joke

2026-04-01T11:18:25-04:00

As 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 d …

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Sony temporarily suspends memory card sales due to shortages

2026-04-08T05:51:55-04:00

Sony has announced that as of March 27th, 2026, the company is no longer accepting orders for nearly all the products in its CFexpress and SD memory card lines. The list of affected memory products includes CFexpress Type A, Type B, and SDXC/SDHC cards, although a few models of Type B and low-end SF-UZ series SD cards remain in production, according to PetaPixel, and you may still be able to find them on shelves until the existing supply runs out.

This includes orders from the company's authorized dealers as well as general consumers for "the foreseeable future," with the news coming out on the same day Sony said it will raise PS5 prices wo …

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Sony is raising PS5 prices by $100 in April

2026-04-08T09:09:25-04:00

Sony is raising the price of its PlayStation 5 consoles globally starting April 2nd. In an announcement on Friday, Sony says that the standard PS5 will now cost $649.99, up from $549.99. Meanwhile, the PS5 Digital Edition now costs $599.99 instead of $499.99, and the PlayStation 5 Pro will cost $899.99 instead of $749.99.

Along with these changes, Sony is increasing the price of its PlayStation Portal as well, going from $199.99 to $249.99.

This is the second time in less than a year that Sony has raised the price of its PS5 consoles, as the company hiked prices by $50 for all three models last August. Sony cites "continued pressures in th …

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