Every tech price increase of 2026 so far: Blame the AI industry

First, we had inflation. Then came the Trump tariffs. Now, it's RAMageddon, the memory-related price hikes affecting laptops, smartphones, gaming consoles, and any product that requires memory. And if that wasn’t bad enough, fuel prices are going up because of the Iran conflict.

In the post-COVID era, the price increases have been relentless, and supply chain experts told Mashable the global memory crisis will get worse before it gets better.

RAMageddon also has a simple explanation: the AI industry. "It’s definitely the AI industry and the demand for AI rollouts that's driving this," Jitesh Ubrani, a research manager with the International Data Corporation, told Mashable.

"The memory supply will remain tight from a device's perspective for the remainder of 2026 and well into 2027," Ubrani said. "We will see some alleviation in 2028, but keep in mind that prices will continue to rise throughout. And even in 2028, assuming this new [memory] capacity comes online and is able to provide some alleviation, we don't see device prices dropping significantly."

So, could consumers weary of price increases ultimately sour on the AI industry?

"I do think there is a backlash risk," said Tinglong Dai, a professor with the John Hopkins Carey Business School. "People may not care about memory supply chains in the abstract, but they do care when laptops, phones, and gaming PCs get more expensive. That kind of price frustration can turn a vague discomfort with AI into something much more concrete."

Dai warned that Big Tech may be blind to the potential backlash.

"I'm not sure AI leaders fully appreciate that risk. Jensen Huang calling the scarcity 'fantastic for us' may be true from NVIDIA's standpoint, but it is exactly the kind of quote that can look terrible in a policy debate. I do not think the main risk is a consumer boycott. Most AI infrastructure companies do not sell directly to consumers. The bigger risk is that policymakers in Seoul, Brussels, and eventually Washington decide AI infrastructure needs to be taxed, rationed, or regulated more aggressively."

Economist and author Shawn DuBravac also told Mashable that "AI and data centers should be worried about backlash generally." He added, "Memory prices are just one part of a much bigger narrative about consumer perception of AI and data centers."

Mashable reached out to Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI for comment on recent price increases; they all declined to answer.

Tech price increases so far this year

Tech prices vary based on a product's configuration. That means Microsoft Surface and Dell XPS 14 laptops don't have a single price. The processor, graphics card, RAM, and storage all affect pricing, and retailer pricing also varies. In compiling this list, we looked at announcements from device manufacturers, our previous reporting, reporting from other tech sites, and the Wayback Machine.

The prices in this guide are representative of price increases as of May 28, 2026. Prices can vary by retailer and date.

• Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 — Prices increased up to $150 in May

• Acer Predator Helios — Prices increased $125 to $200 year over year

• Asus — Announced general price increases starting Jan. 5, with laptop prices increasing $150 to $300

• Dell — Business Insider reported that Dell was increasing commercial laptop and PC prices up to 30 percent beginning in December 2025 due to higher RAM costs

• Dell XPS 14 — Starting prices increased from $1,599.99 to $1,899.99 in May

• Fortnite V-Bucks — Starting in March, $8.99 will only buy players 800 V-Bucks, compared to 1,000 previously

• Framework DDR5 — A 1 x 8GB DDR5-5600 module from Framework increased from $40 to $160 year over year

• MSI — In March, MSI announced plans to increase prices of gaming products from 15 to 30 percent due to the RAM shortage

• Lenovo Chromebook Plus 14 — Prices increased up to $250 year over year

• Lenovo Legion Go 2 — Prices increased from $300 to $650 and up this year (the 2TB configuration briefly soared from $1,370 to $2,849.99, a 92 percent increase, per PCMag)

• Lenovo Legion Tower 5 Desktop — Prices increased up to $220 year over year

• Lenovo LOQ Gaming Laptop — Prices increased up to $179 year over year

• HP — In February, HP confirmed it was increasing prices across the board due to a 100 percent increase in memory costs, with increases varying by product and country

• Microsoft Surface Laptops — Prices increased $100 to $500 in April

• Motorola Moto G — Price increased from $200 to $300 in April, a $100 increase over the 2025 version

• Motorola Moto G Play — Price increased from $180 to $250 in April, a $70 increase over the 2025 version

• Motorola Moto G Power — Price increased from $300 to $400 in April, a $100 increase over the 2025 version

• Motorola Moto G Stylus — Price increased from $400 to $500 in April, a $100 increase over the 2025 version

• Motorola Razr (2026) — Price increased from $699.99 to $799.99 in May, a $100 increase over the 2025 version

• Motorola Razr Plus (2026) — Price increased from $999.99 to $1,099.99 in May, a $100 increase over the 2025 version

• Motorola Razr Ultra (2026) — Price increased from $1,299 to $1,499.99 in May, a $200 increase over the 2025 version

• Nintendo Switch 2 — Prices increasing from $449.99 to $499.99 on Sept. 1

• Oura Ring 5 — The new smart ring costs $50 more than the Oura Ring 4

• PlayStation 5 (Disc Edition) — Prices increased from $499.99 to $649.99 on April 2

• PlayStation 5 (Digital Edition) — Prices increased from $449.99 to $599.99 on April 2

• PlayStation 5 Pro — Prices increased from $699.99 to $899.99 on April 2

• Samsung Galaxy S26 — Price increased from $800 to $900 in March, a $100 increase over the 2025 version

• Samsung Galaxy S26+ — Price increased from $1,000 to $1,100 in March, a $100 increase over the 2025 version

• Steam Deck OLED — Prices increased from $240 to $300 in May

Based on this sampling of products, the price of gaming consoles has increased 32.77 percent on average in 2026. Phone and laptop prices have increased on average 23.27 percent and 25.27 percent, respectively.

Some of the products listed in this article are new versions of products from 2025. Sometimes, brands offer slightly different specs, such as more or less memory, along with a price increase. In these cases, we've looked at the lowest starting price for the new model.

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple is especially known for softening the blow of price increases by offering consumers more memory.

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Streaming app price increases in 2026

Streaming apps are also getting more expensive, for a variety of reasons. On top of that, streaming services are also showing more ads to users.

• Amazon Music Unlimited — Individual plans rose from $10.99 to $12.99 (or $11.99 for Prime members) in February

• Amazon Prime (Ad-Free "Ultra" Tier) — The monthly surcharge to remove ads increased from $2.99 to $4.99 in April

• Crunchyroll (Fan Tier) — Increased from $7.99 to $9.99 in February

• Netflix (Standard Plan) — Increased from $15.49 to $19.99 in March

• Netflix (Ad-Supported Plan) — Increased from $7.99 to $8.99 in March

• Spotify Premium (Individual) — Increased from $11.99 to $12.99 in February

• Paramount+ (Essential) — Increased from $8 to $9 per month in January

• Paramount+ (Premium) — Increased from $12.99 to $13.99 in January

• Plex (Lifetime Pass) — Increasing from $250 to $749.99 in July

• YouTube Premium — Increased from $13.99 to $15.99 in April

Bellwether products

Gas and delivery costs are also going up in 2026, putting even more upward pressure on tech prices.

• Gasoline — The price of gas increased from $3.164 per gallon to $4.426 year over year, per AAA

• Crude oil — The cost of oil increased from $59 per barrel in May 2025 to a peak of $113 this month (currently $93 per barrel)

• FedEx — FedEx implemented a 20-25 cents per pound import demand surcharge starting May 7

• UPS — UPS is charging a $ 0.32-per-pound surge emergency fee for most international shipments and a $ 1.34-per-pound surge fee for shipments to and from the Middle East

When will shoppers get some relief?

We put this question to experts on economics and the tech industry. In general, they were skeptical that prices will come down to pre-crisis levels.

"I'm sure you remember the time we used to pay less than $1,000 for a phone, right?" asked Urbani. "Yeah, that's never going to happen again."

However, Willy Shih, a supply chain expert and professor at the Harvard Business School, said that in hyper-competitive markets, brands may have to lower prices eventually.

"For things like consumer PCs, that’s a pretty competitive space, so if you’re a company that tries to keep prices high and capture more profit, your competitors will undercut you and gain market share, so I think companies will largely have to pass on savings," Shih said. "Some might try to sell you more memory at the same price. But DRAMs are a globally priced commodity (just like oil!), so it will be hard to not pass on savings."

Ultimately, tech supply chain experts say the market will adapt, and the memory crisis will end.

"Component shortages do get resolved eventually," said Ubrani. "While I expect this one to last longer than many probably expect, eventually supply will catch up with demand or demand will slow. Component prices will eventually come down. Though it will likely take a little more time for those price declines to materialize into lower consumer prices."

However, Professor Dai also said he doesn't expect prices to come back down.

"Companies are quick to pass higher costs along, but slower to pass savings back. More likely, consumers will see more RAM at the same price point, or worse specs in the lower tiers, rather than cheaper laptops," Dai said.

Disclosure: PCMag and Mashable are both owned by the same parent company, Ziff Davis.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.