The era of “golden” smartphones and laptops. Why electronics are suddenly getting more expensive

Ukrainians who haven’t upgraded their devices in a long time and finally decide to do so may be unpleasantly surprised by the price tags on new models. Smartphones, tablets, and laptops are gradually becoming “golden.” And the strategy of waiting out a period of price increases no longer works: it’s unrealistic to expect prices that have jumped by tens of percent to return to previous levels anytime soon. Moreover, forecasts say electronics will keep getting more expensive, and certain product categories may even face shortages.

The main reason for this trend is the artificial intelligence boom. Chipmakers have massively retooled their production toward the more profitable memory for data centers and AI servers, which large corporations (Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, Meta, Amazon) buy in large volumes with almost no bargaining. This has created an artificial shortage of memory for ordinary gadgets. As a result, basic components for them have become many times more expensive, and device manufacturers are forced to pass those costs on to buyers.

Main types of memory

Memory in smartphones, tablets, laptops, and personal computers is divided into two main types – volatile (working) memory and non-volatile (storage). They perform different functions and operate on different principles.

How memory prices on exchanges have changed since 2025. NAND (non-volatile memory) has become almost nine times more expensive, DRAM (volatile) almost eightfold

source: MUFG

This summer Apple already raised prices on a number of its MacBook and iPad models in the US – by $100–300. Apple CEO Tim Cook, who is leaving his position this year, complained that the company had not planned to do this but was forced to because of the rapid rise in memory chip prices. Cook called the current situation in the memory market a once-in-a-century event.

The same fate will almost certainly befall the new iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, whose presentation will take place soon this fall – according to analysts and insiders, the new models could increase in price immediately by $250–300. Thus the cheapest version of the iPhone 18 Pro with 256 GB of storage would cost $1349–1399, and the iPhone 18 Pro Max – $1449–1499. Models with 512 GB and 1 terabyte storage will jump in price even more. And these are only the “base” prices in the US; by the time the gadgets reach other countries, their price may rise further. Rumor has it the price increases could also affect new batches of the current 17 lineup in the near future.

According to calculations by leading industry publication TrendForce, the share of memory in the production cost of an iPhone Pro with 256 GB of memory rose from approximately 10% a year ago to 34% in Q3 of 2026 and could exceed 40% in the first half of 2027. This fundamentally changes the rules of the game, because previously the most expensive smartphone components were the processor and the display. The publication notes: if even Apple, with its industry-leading profitability, is forced to raise prices, then even tougher times are coming for Android smartphone manufacturers, who operate with lower margins.

Apple CEO Tim Cook grandly called the current “memory crisis” a once-in-a-century event

photo: AP

Chinese manufacturers Xiaomi, Honor, and OPPO have announced price increases. Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun warned that the rise in memory chip prices will continue for at least two years, which will be reflected in the company’s product prices.

A blow to the “budget” segment

New smartphone models already cost more than their predecessors – for example, the Samsung A56, popular in Ukraine and one of the leaders in European budget sales, launched in 2025 at a starting price of $499 for the minimum version with 128 GB of storage, while its successor A57 is already $549. And, for example, the sub-flagship Xiaomi 17T with 256 GB of memory became 100 euros more expensive than its predecessor Xiaomi 15T – 749 versus 649 euros. However, the minimum amount of RAM in the Xiaomi phone is larger – 12 GB versus 8 GB in the Samsung.

Memory price increases hit buyers of inexpensive and ultra-cheap smartphones the hardest. Analysts estimate the share of memory in the total cost of a mid-range or budget phone rose from the previous 10–15% to about 30%. This has led to the fact that producing some budget models has become unprofitable. The situation is worsened by leading chipmakers’ decision to stop producing LPDDR4 memory in favor of the more modern LPDDR5. It is cheaper LPDDR4 that is used in budget models of smartphones and laptops.

To avoid raising the price of budget versions to levels unaffordable for users, manufacturers resort to various tricks: they “cut” RAM specs and economize on other characteristics. For example, the “people’s smartphone” of Ukrainians, the Xiaomi Redmi, whose 17-th generation came out in August, received compared to its predecessor a worse processor, screen, and simplified cameras. Instead, to somehow compensate consumers for this downgrade, manufacturers increase battery capacities, which for now does not require such large expenditures.

Industry sources say that Apple, which due to the scale of its component purchases is a special client for suppliers, is trying to save on other components amid record memory price hikes: the apple giant asked Samsung Display and LG Display to lower the purchase price of OLED panels for the iPhone 18 Pro Max. The company expects to pay about $70 per screen, which is almost 20% less compared to displays for the previous model.

But it’s not always possible to save on other components – rising memory prices have triggered a chain reaction. Everything is getting more expensive – from processors to motherboards and cooling systems. Recently, Snapdragon chipmaker Qualcomm announced price increases for its products. This will take effect already from 1 September.

The crisis has also hit the laptop market hard: price increases there have been even more noticeable than in smartphones. Industry leaders such as Lenovo and Dell warned of inevitable price adjustments as early as the end of last year. Since modern laptops use significantly larger amounts of RAM than smartphones – from 16 GB – and capacious SSD drives, the rise in chip production costs immediately added $100–200 to the retail price of new models. The cheapest “notebooks,” which could previously be bought for simple office tasks, are already approaching mid-range price points.

Why the crisis happened

The current difficult situation in the electronics market did not come out of nowhere. Memory chip production is now effectively concentrated in the facilities of three companies – Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron. In 2022–2023 this market experienced an overproduction crisis, but the AI boom came to the rescue. IT giants urgently needed hundreds of thousands of high-performance servers to train neural networks, and along with them – the specific and expensive High Bandwidth Memory (HBM). Demand for HBM in 2023–2024 rose sharply, and chipmakers threw all their efforts into meeting it.

At the same time, by spring 2024 it became clear that producing ordinary RAM for laptops, smartphones, and PCs was becoming unprofitable. Chip suppliers effectively pivoted their capacities toward data centers, while the consumer segment began to be served on a residual basis.

Huge AI data centers deprived manufacturers of memory for traditional gadgets

photo: depositphotos.com

It got to the point of oddities: according to Korean media reports, Samsung’s semiconductor division that makes memory chips refused to sign long-term (one year or more) contracts with the mobile division of the same company that makes Galaxy smartphones and tablets. The company called those reports unfounded, but the numbers speak louder than words. In Q1 of 2026 the semiconductor division’s operating profit rose nearly 50 times compared to the same period last year. However, against this triumph the mobile division’s figures are depressing: the smartphone maker, which traditionally competes with Apple for the top spot in the market, recorded an operating loss for the first time in history in the second quarter.

Another telling sign of the current state of the tech industry was Micron Technology’s announcement of the closure of its veteran brand Crucial. It was associated with affordable memory for laptops and PCs, and its decline in popularity was not expected. Micron simply acquired other—more promising and profitable—priorities.

To satisfy all demand, chipmakers would have to substantially increase capacity, but that means years of building new fabs and billions of dollars in investment. Besides, chipmakers still remember the previous crisis well and are cautious. The AI frenzy will wane sooner or later, and the new capacities built for it could remain a kind of monument to the current boom.

Price pressure could be partially eased by an activation of Chinese manufacturers (CXMT and YMTC), but they currently have fairly modest capabilities compared to the market leaders, and they are on the US sanctions list. According to the Financial Times, Apple even tried to obtain permission from the Trump administration to purchase RAM from CXMT while seeking a way out of the difficult situation. However, it’s still unknown whether the White House granted approval for such purchases.

What’s happening in Ukraine

In Ukraine, global crisis effects are compounded by local specifics – primarily dollar exchange rate fluctuations, and recently added logistics difficulties.

“The increase in memory prices has already noticeably affected the entire segment of devices with RAM – laptops, PCs, tablets, smart TVs, and monitors,” says Andriy Kovalenko, commercial director of the Comfy retail chain, in a comment to Hlavkom. “New prices are already built into the cost of fresh models, and each new shipment costs more than the previous one.”

According to Kovalenko, laptops have reacted most sensitively to price fluctuations – because of fast turnover, price changes are noticeable now. “With desktop PCs the situation is still stable: the PC market is much smaller in units—approximately one to ten compared to laptops—and some stock of components at old prices still remains,” the retailer’s representative says. “But by our forecasts it will be exhausted by the end of September. After that, price increases will affect this segment as well. So those planning to buy a PC should do it now.”

Kovalenko singles out the corporate segment – servers, where large-volume specific memory is used. The impact of price increases is felt particularly acutely there.

Price increases are not the only problem Ukrainian consumers of electronics may face. Along with rising memory costs, the market is also encountering shortages of certain categories, primarily in the budget laptop segment. Causes of shortages include a shortage of processors and memory, to which, in Ukrainian realities, are added the consequences of military actions affecting logistics and supply chains. Rising logistics and storage costs, as well as overall instability due to military aggression, also affect the final price of gadgets.

“It’s important to understand: virtually no stocks at old prices remain in the country,” Kovalenko emphasizes. “Demand at the start of the year was abnormally high, and the market entered a new price reality already in early spring.”

The specialist predicts prices may not stabilize before November, and no price decreases are expected this year at all: “In our estimates, a return to lower price levels is possible in about three years. Demand is already under some pressure – there is a slight decline in the laptop market. In the future, buyers will likely shift their focus to promotional periods – Back to School, Black Friday, and the New Year season – as the main opportunities for favorable purchases. For those considering buying devices soon, there is still a chance to do so at a relatively better price.”

Evhen Kushnirov, commercial director of the Allo marketplace, also notes that rising memory costs are gradually affecting most categories of electronics that use DRAM and NAND components (smartphones, laptops, tablets, PCs, storage drives).

“In the tablet and laptop categories we already see price changes for certain models and configurations,” Kushnirov says. “Depending on brand, memory capacity, specs, and comparison period, increases can be roughly from 15% to 35%. The most noticeable difference is seen in products with larger amounts of RAM and storage.”

According to the specialist, the budget smartphone segment is most vulnerable. Component costs in such models form a significant share of the price, and manufacturers’ ability to offset price increases through margin is limited. Already some budget models and variants have seen prices rise more sharply than the market average: device price growth can be from 30% to 70%.

At the same time, price increases are not pushing buyers into the very cheapest segment. On the contrary, the share of the most affordable devices is gradually shrinking: they are getting more expensive faster, narrowing the price gap between base and more functional models.

“Consumers increasingly choose mid-price-segment devices that have a better camera, larger battery capacity, a more powerful processor, a bigger screen, and a longer expected service life,” notes the Allo representative.

Assessing the smartphone market overall, the expert points out that unit sales remain at the level of the same period last year, while in monetary terms the market has risen by about 30%. The main reasons for the “check” increase are a higher average smartphone price, a reduction in the share of the cheapest models, and growth in the mid-range and premium segments. According to Kushnirov’s observations, buyers can postpone purchases longer or use installment plans more often, but at the moment of purchase they tend to choose a more functional device rather than the cheapest available model.

The expert’s forecasts for the future are not encouraging. He expects pressure on the budget device segment to persist until the end of the year. At the same time, be prepared not only for further price increases but also for a gradual reduction in the number of the cheapest models on shelves.

“Manufacturers may move to more expensive but better-balanced configurations to maintain acceptable device characteristics,” the retail representative expects. “It would be incorrect to predict a twofold price increase across the entire budget segment, but for certain models or configurations that scenario cannot be completely ruled out. In our estimate, by the end of 2026 the smartphone market in units may be roughly 5% smaller than in 2025. At the same time, in monetary terms it may grow by about 35%.”

While the world debates whether artificial intelligence is good or evil, its rapid deployment is already hitting the wallets of all lovers of modern gadgets. Many will have to give up the habit of buying a new smartphone every year or year and a half just because the previous one got boring. Instead, another trend will be forced to form: keeping devices and maintaining them in working order as long as possible. If your old device is already “on its last legs” and an upgrade is unavoidable, it’s unlikely worth postponing the purchase until better times. Right now nobody can say exactly when those times will come.

In the end, the secondary market may become a budget savior in this situation. Used gadgets and refurbished devices are getting a second life amid galloping prices and turn into an alternative to unreasonably expensive new models.

Pavlo Vuyets, Hlavkom