Why Your Next Phone Will Cost More, Micron Exits Consumer Market, Rising RAM Price
- Global prices for electronics like smartphones and laptops are set to rise as major manufacturers shift RAM production to serve the booming AI data center market
- Micron has announced it will exit the consumer memory business by 2026 to focus on enterprise clients which leaves fewer suppliers for everyday tech products
- The shortage is driven by the need for high-bandwidth memory in AI processors which forces companies to sacrifice production of standard consumer DRAM chips.
[IThe global tech market is facing a severe supply crisis that threatens to drive up the cost of almost every electronic device you own. The culprit is not a pandemic or a trade war but the voracious appetite of artificial intelligence. Major memory manufacturers like Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron are aggressively shifting their production lines away from consumer grade RAM to focus on high margin chips needed for AI data centers. This strategic pivot has created a massive shortage of DRAM the essential memory component found in everything from smartphones and laptops to cars and gaming consoles.
The impact on consumers is already tangible. Prices for DDR5 RAM, which is standard in modern PCs, have skyrocketed. In some cases costs have nearly quadrupled. The situation is so dire that Micron recently announced it will completely exit the consumer memory business by February 2026 to dedicate its resources entirely to enterprise AI clients. This leaves everyday buyers with fewer options and higher prices as the remaining suppliers prioritize trillion dollar tech giants like OpenAI and Google over individual customers.
This shortage is not just a problem for PC gamers. It is set to ripple through the entire consumer electronics ecosystem. Industry analysts warn that smartphone prices could jump significantly as early as next year. TrendForce estimates that rising memory costs have already increased the production cost of smartphones by up to 10 percent. Manufacturers like Dell and Lenovo are also signaling impending price hikes for laptops and desktops. The shortage is even squeezing the supply of NAND flash chips used in SSD storage which means the cost of storing your data is about to go up as well.
The root of the problem lies in the manufacturing process itself. To build the high bandwidth memory (HBM) required by AI processors like Nvidia's GPUs companies must sacrifice the production capacity that would normally be used for standard consumer RAM. Because AI companies have virtually unlimited budgets they can outbid everyone else for these limited manufacturing slots. Until new factories come online which could take years or the AI bubble bursts the average consumer will be left paying the price for the industry's new gold rush.