{"id":1963540,"date":"2026-05-30T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1963540"},"modified":"2026-05-30T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T06:00:00","slug":"every-tech-price-increase-of-2026-so-far-blame-the-ai-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1963540","title":{"rendered":"Every tech price increase of 2026 so far: Blame the AI industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Home<\/a>><\/span>Tech<\/a><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Thank the AI industry for tech price increases: See the full list<\/h1>\n
Why are our smartphones, laptops, and gaming consoles more expensive? Because AI is hogging all the memory.<\/div>\n
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\n \u00a0By\u00a0<\/p>\n
Timothy Beck Werth<\/a><\/p>\n
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Timothy Beck Werth<\/div>\n
Tech Editor<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n Timothy Beck Werth is the Tech Editor at Mashable, where he leads coverage and assignments for the Tech and Shopping verticals. Tim has over 15 years of experience as a journalist and editor, and he has particular experience covering and testing consumer technology, smart home gadgets, and men\u2019s grooming and style products. Previously, he was the Managing Editor and then Site Director of SPY.com, a men’s product review and lifestyle website. As a writer for GQ, he covered everything from bull-riding competitions to the best Legos for adults, and he\u2019s also contributed to publications such as The Daily Beast, Gear Patrol, and The Awl.\n <\/div>\n

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Blame Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, and Jensen Huang.<\/span>Credit: Zooey Liao\/Mashable\/Google Images\/Shutterstock<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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First, we had inflation<\/a>. Then came the Trump tariffs<\/a>. Now, it’s RAMageddon, the memory-related price hikes<\/a> affecting laptops, smartphones, gaming consoles, and any product that requires memory. And if that wasn\u2019t bad enough, fuel prices are going up because of the Iran conflict<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

RAMageddon also has a simple explanation: the AI industry. “It\u2019s definitely the AI industry and the demand for AI rollouts that’s driving this,” Jitesh Ubrani<\/a>, a research manager with the International Data Corporation, told Mashable. <\/p>\n

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“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.”<\/p>\n

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AI-generated image.<\/span>Credit: Mashable<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

So, could consumers weary of price increases ultimately sour on the AI industry?<\/p>\n

“I do think there is a backlash risk,” said Tinglong Dai<\/a>, 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.”<\/p>\n

Dai warned that Big Tech may be blind to the potential backlash.<\/p>\n

“I’m not sure AI leaders fully appreciate that risk. Jensen Huang calling the scarcity ‘fantastic for us’ <\/a>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.”<\/p>\n

Economist and author Shawn DuBravac<\/a> 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.”<\/p>\n

Mashable reached out to Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI for comment on recent price increases; they all declined to answer.<\/p>\n

Tech price increases so far this year<\/h2>\n

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<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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The prices in this guide are representative of price increases as of May 28, 2026. Prices can vary by retailer and date.<\/p>\n