(Image credit: Tom’s Guide)
Up to this point, the ongoing RAM crisis has been limited to purchasable consumer memory, but it was inevitable that RAMageddon would eventually impact more technology. A new analyst report from TrendForce, the market intelligence and consulting firm, claims that the memory price surge will affect smartphone and laptop manufacturers heading into 2026.
Consequently, according to the report, smartpho…
(Image credit: Tom’s Guide)
Up to this point, the ongoing RAM crisis has been limited to purchasable consumer memory, but it was inevitable that RAMageddon would eventually impact more technology. A new analyst report from TrendForce, the market intelligence and consulting firm, claims that the memory price surge will affect smartphone and laptop manufacturers heading into 2026.
Consequently, according to the report, smartphone companies like Apple and Samsung will likely raise prices while reducing RAM capacity. It could also lead to a reduction in the number of devices actually produced by these companies.
Smartphones downgrades
(Image credit: Shutterstock)
Apple is slightly more independent than most Android smartphone companies due to its huge presence in the global market. But TrendForce predicts that even Apple may have to revise prices due to the memory shortage. This includes not discounting older iPhones when the iPhone 18 lineup launches next September, for example.
As for Android, we’ll likely see price increases across the board or modifications to the lifecycle of phones that are already for sale. “Rising memory costs will compel [Samsung] to raise the launch prices of new models in 2026,” TrendForce notes.
(Image credit: Trendforce)
High-end phones likely won’t see as big an impact specs-wise, though prices may increase because of the demand. Where you’ll see the change is in mid-range and budget options. As an example, mid-range devices likely won’t see 12GB options and instead stick between 6GB and 8GB. Meanwhile, budget devices will only get 4GB going forward, according to TrendForce.
Already, we’ve seen Chinese companies like Xiaomi and Redmi bracing for hikes, telling customers to expect increases between 20% and 30% in 2026.
Laptop problems
(Image credit: Future)
Despite companies like Micron shuttering consumer memory brands like Crucial, we likely won’t see as widespread an impact on laptop memory until mid-2026 or later. This is due to companies like Lenovo and HP hoarding memory in response to the RAM crisis. But price hikes are coming.
Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.
It has been suggested that Dell will raise prices before the end of December. Lenovo has allegedly told its retail and enterprise clients that “all current quotations and prices” will expire on January 1, 2026. Before Thanksgiving, CyberPowerPC announcedthat it would raise prices in early December.
Some companies, like Framework, are already trying to set a marketing narrative with Framework asserting it “won’t gouge customers like Dell.”
(Image credit: Future)
Still, TrendForce expects laptop manufacturers will put the bare minimum amount of RAM they can get away with in new notebooks. That means 16GB of RAM in high-end models, with mid-range and budget PCs sitting around 8GB.
Despite the reduction in memory, the firm forecasts “significant price fluctuations in the PC market by the second quarter of 2026.”
There are no signs of the RAM crisis abating any time soon. As RAM prices explode, we might not see relief until 2028 at the earliest. The downstream effect is that all of our tech is about to get more expensive, and an industry that already operates on a slim margin might become even more aggressive, price-wise.
*Follow Tom’s Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. *
More from Tom’s Guide
- New ransomware locks Android devices and can also erase data – how to avoid this malware
- Intel Panther Lake vs Snapdragon X2 Elite vs AMD Gorgon Point — one chip is already pulling ahead in 2026’s CPU war
- 2026 iPad models could get performance boost — new leak reveals A19 and M4 chips
Back to Laptops
Apple
Asus
Dell
Lenovo
AMD Ryzen
Intel Core i5
Intel Core i7
8GB RAM
16GB RAM
32GB RAM
32GB
64GB
128GB
256GB
512GB
1TB
2TB
13.3-inch
13.4-inch
14-inch
15-inch
Black
Blue
Gold
Grey
Silver
New
Refurbished
Any Minimum Price
Any Maximum Price
Showing 10 of 98 deals
Filters☰
1
2
(13.3-inch 64GB)
3
(Blue)
4
(Grey)
Our Review
☆☆☆☆☆
5
(14-inch 1TB)
Our Review
☆☆☆☆☆
6
(256GB SSD)
7
(15-inch 256GB)
8
(13.4-inch 512GB)
Our Review
☆☆☆☆☆
9
(512GB OLED)
10
Show more
Scott Younker is the West Coast Reporter at Tom’s Guide. He covers all the lastest tech news. He’s been involved in tech since 2011 at various outlets and is on an ongoing hunt to build the easiest to use home media system. When not writing about the latest devices, you are more than welcome to discuss board games or disc golf with him. He also handles all the Connections coverage on Tom’s Guide and has been playing the addictive NYT game since it released.