San Jose, January 13, 2026
If you've been thinking about buying a new phone or laptop lately, you might have noticed the prices jumping. Yeah, it's happening across the board right now.
Major brands like Lenovo, Dell, HP, ASUS, and Acer have all raised prices on their notebooks, with mid-to-high-end models up by about 500 to 1,500 RMB (or equivalent in other markets). For example, some Lenovo models on their official site that were over 5,000 RMB got bumped up in that range starting early this year. Dell went even harder on commercial laptops, hiking them 10-30% late last year, and some top configs are seeing bigger jumps.
On the phone side, new models from Chinese brands are up 100 to 600 RMB compared to their predecessors. Take the Xiaomi 17 Ultra – its starting price rose about 500 RMB from the last gen. Other names like Redmi, iQOO, OPPO, and even some from vivo and Honor are doing the same for mid-range and flagship releases.
Why is this hitting all at once? It's mostly because of DRAM (memory/RAM) and NAND Flash (storage like SSDs or phone storage) prices going through the roof. Market watchers like Counterpoint say storage prices surged over 40% in Q4 2025, and they're forecasting another 40-50% jump in Q1 2026, with more to come in Q2.
The root cause is AI everything. Data centers, big model training, and AI servers are eating up massive amounts of high-end memory (especially HBM stuff from Samsung, SK Hynix, etc.), so less capacity is left for consumer-grade DRAM and NAND. Suppliers are prioritizing the more profitable AI side, leading to shortages and tight supply for phones and PCs.
Demand isn't helping either – AI PCs (those new laptops with built-in AI features) and AI phones need bigger, faster storage and RAM. Brands are pushing "big memory standard" configs to compete, which piles on even more pressure when chips are already scarce.
IDC points out that memory now makes up over 20% of a smartphone's total cost (up from 10-15% before), especially in mid-range models. For laptops, it's a similar story – memory is a big chunk of the BOM (bill of materials).
A lot of this is expected to stick around. Analysts think the upcycle could last into 2027, meaning prices might stay high or keep climbing for a while. Some brands are even talking about downgrading specs on lower-end models (like going back to 4GB RAM on budget phones) or just passing the full cost on.
Bottom line: If you're in the market for a new device, a lot of people are saying now might be the "cheapest" it'll be for the next couple of years. Wait too long, and you could see even bigger hits.
