GAMES GTA 6 narrows roads and limits weapons to force tactical play AMD Topfeel DeskOne A1 packs 24-core Intel Core Ultra 9 and 256 GB RAM in a 21-liter chassis GAMES iQOO Pad Pro brings 165Hz OLED and active cooling to an 8.8-inch gaming tablet NVIDIA Axera AX8860P targets Nvidia DGX Spark with 256 TOPS AI accelerator for under $2,000 AMD Microsoft weighs spec cuts for cheaper Surface as Apple MacBook Neo pricing pressures margins DLSS NCSoft Cinder City Trailer Reveals Tactical MMO Shooter Set in Post-Apocalyptic Seoul CONSOLES 98.6% of Gears of War: E-Day sales in Spain were physical copies GAMES Xbox Manager Deletes X Account After Backlash Over AI Game Development Claims GAMES CD Projekt delays The Witcher 4 details to ensure Ciri is not a copy of Geralt GAMES Assetto Corsa EVO update 0.10 adds 1:1 German Eifel map and off-road driving on December 9 GAMES Games Workshop Unveils Seven New Warhammer 40,000 Battleforce Boxes GEFORCE RTX RTX 5090 power limit jumps to 800W with new open-source VBIOS override tool GAMES Unofficial Bully: Scholarship Edition port runs on Unreal Engine 5.8 NVIDIA DDR2 Gaming PC with Xeon X5460 and Titan V hits 44 FPS in GTA V at 4K

Samsung DRAM Prices Rise 20% in Q3 2026 After Massive H1 Hikes

Daniel Cross 2 min read

Samsung negotiates a 20% DRAM price increase for Q3 2026, adding to steep H1 hikes. AI data center demand shrinks supply, raising PC and smartphone costs.

Samsung DRAM chips on a circuit board
PC HARDWARE

Memory costs are climbing again, and buyers planning new PC builds or upgrades will feel the pinch immediately. Samsung is negotiating a DRAM price increase of up to 20% for the third quarter of 2026. This latest hike follows massive jumps in the first half of the year, meaning hardware budgets must stretch further than expected. Consumers should expect higher prices for laptops, desktops, and smartphones using standard RAM modules.

Samsung DRAM chips on a circuit board
Samsung is negotiating a 20% price increase for DRAM in Q3 2026.

Memory costs climb as AI demand diverts production capacity

The price adjustments target standard dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chips used across consumer electronics. Samsung leads these negotiations, with SK Hynix also participating in the industry-wide increase. The supply shortage stems from high-bandwidth memory (HBM) demand for AI data centers, which diverts production capacity away from standard DRAM. This structural shift limits the availability of memory for general computing devices.

  • Q3 2026 DRAM Price Increase: up to 20%
  • Q1 2026 DRAM Price Increase: over 90%
  • Q2 2026 DRAM Price Increase: 50%

The pricing trajectory shows a steep upward curve over the past two quarters. Samsung secured a DRAM price increase of over 90% in the first quarter of 2026. A further 50% increase followed in the second quarter. The upcoming third-quarter hike of up to 20% adds to this cumulative cost burden. These figures reflect supplier strategies to recover margins amid tight supply.

Lenovo has warned that elevated memory prices may persist for several years, possibly until 2030. This prediction suggests that pre-2025 price levels are unlikely to return in the near term. Apple has already passed similar chip cost increases to consumers through higher prices for Macs and iPhones. Smartphone sales could drop by double digits as devices become less affordable for average buyers.

We tracked these pricing trends while monitoring the broader impact of AI-driven memory demand on consumer hardware. The combination of supplier negotiations and supply constraints creates a challenging environment for budget-conscious builders. Hardware costs will remain elevated as long as AI data center demand dominates production capacity. Buyers should anticipate higher prices for any device containing standard DRAM in the coming year.

Source: GIZMOCHINA

Related stories