If you’re thinking about upgrading your phone or laptop, do it now. Even if you’re on the fence, it could still be a good time to just pull the trigger. This is because, according to Samsung , the company warns that the price of our phones and laptops could go up soon.
Samsung warns price of phones and laptops will increase
During CES 2026 , Samsung’s head of global marketing, Wonjin Lee, warned that the price of electronics could go up due to the shortages of memory supply . According to Lee, Samsung does not want to pass those costs down to its customers, but the company is considering “repricing” them to reflect the shortages.
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about these potential price hikes. According to a report from last year, Samsung has already raised the prices of its memory chips by as much as 60% . We’re not sure if computer or phone makers will absorb those costs, but don’t be surprised if phones and computers this year cost significantly more than last year.
We’re also hearing reports that the rising prices of memory could result in the delay of new products. This includes next-gen consoles like Sony’s PlayStation 6 and Microsoft’s next Xbox . It could also affect the products offered by companies. Some might opt to only use newer and higher amounts of memory for flagship devices .
But why is this happening?
To sum it up: AI. We’re starting to see more companies invest in AI. We’re also seeing more new companies formed to develop AI models and applications. As a result, the demand for data centers is on the rise. In order to accommodate all this development, there is a surge in the demand for memory.
It’s hard to ignore the potentially lucrative nature of AI. After all, no one wants to be late to the party, right? So in order to cash in on the demand, many memory makers are starting to prioritize HBM. These are memory components typically used for data centers. By focusing and prioritizing these types of memory, more consumer-facing memory chips will suffer.
This will result in the constrained supply of consumer-grade memory, resulting in higher prices. This also reminds us of when crypto mining was at its peak, which resulted in massive GPU shortages, leading to astronomical prices for available units. We’re not sure how long this is expected to last, but some estimate it could go beyond 2028.
