Memory Laptop Acer

IDC - Global Memory Shortage Crisis: Market Analysis and the ...

www.idc.com

PC vendors are signalling broad price increases as cost pressures intensify into H2 2026. Lenovo, Dell, HP, Acer and ASUS have warned clients of tougher conditions ahead, confirming 15-20% hikes and contract resets as an industry-wide response. The global smartphone market, particularly Android manufacturers, is facing a threat in 2026. The industry’s decade-long trend of democratizing specs by bringing flagship features to affordable smartphones is reversing. The year 2026 is shaping up to be one in which technology becomes more expensive, driven by supply constraints rather than demand growth. ... Francisco Jeronimo is VP for Data and Analytics at IDC EMEA. Based in London, he leads the research that covers mobile devices, personal computing devices, emerging technologies and the circular economy trends across EMEA. In the high end of the market, Apple and Samsung face pressure but are structurally hedged. Its cash reserves and long-term supply agreements allow it to secure memory supply 12-24 months in advance. On the other hand, new flagship models in 2026 will likely have no RAM upgrades, sticking to 12GB for Pro models rather than increasing to 16GB.

Why buying DDR4 RAM is now a smarter play than DDR5 - especially ...

www.zdnet.com

Also: How much RAM does your PC really need in 2026? A Windows and Mac expert’s verdict · Needless to say, this is bad news for consumers. In a post on its official blog, Acer points to several factors driving these increases. TrendForce reports that the conventional DRAM contract prices are expected to rise by as much as 60% in Q1 2025, a jump that will directly impact DDR5 kits. You don’t have to look far to see the effects. On Newegg, a 32GB Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5 kit currently costs around $440. The same kit sold for about $95 in August 2025, according to archived listings. Also: How much RAM does your Linux PC actually need in 2026? And the situation may get worse, with more potential price surges later this year and RAM prices rising another 50% in Q1 2026 alone. The rise of AI is at the top of the list, referred to by Acer as “the single biggest driver behind the shortage.” There are also manufacturing challenges, growing hardware demands, and the ongoing decline in DDR4 RAM production. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET · Soaring prices don’t just affect PC enthusiasts, they’re reshaping the entire PC market. Industry analysts at TrendForce state that notebook shipments are shifting toward lower-tier 8GB models in order to stabilize supply chains.

RAMageddon: The RAM shortage is coming for everything you care ...

www.theverge.com

That’s why almost every major laptop manufacturer — Lenovo, Dell, HP, Asus, Acer — is reportedly planning price hikes of 10, 20, or even 30 percent, and why Chosun Biz is reporting that Lenovo, HP, Dell, Samsung, and LG are rethinking their PC product roadmaps for 2026. IDC suggests the whole PC market could decline by 4.9 to 8.9 percent in 2026, while TrendForce is forecasting a 2.4 percent decline in laptops where it previously expected growth. That means if you’re used to buying $500 phones, they might easily cost $600 or more. Even if you’re used to $1,000 phones, you may get less bang for the buck: “new flagship models in 2026 will likely have no RAM upgrades, sticking to 12GB for Pro models rather than increasing to 16GB,” IDC writes. Even though Lenovo has admitted to hoarding RAM so it won’t run out, the world’s largest PC manufacturer is still paying more to secure its supply for 2026; CEO Yang Yuanqing told Bloomberg his memory costs increased by 40 to 50 percent last quarter and suggested prices might double soon. Do you have a phone in your pocket you’d like to upgrade in the next few years? Fancy a game console or handheld? A laptop, perhaps? Will you need a new router, whether you’re purchasing outright or renting from your ISP? Each of these devices is expected to have shortages, price hikes, or both in 2026.

Experts warn PC prices could rise even more in 2026 as RAM costs ...

www.techradar.com

The semiconductor industry faced an unprecedented DRAM/NAND shortage in late 2025, and it could persist "well into 2027" leading to price hikes across consumer and business laptops and mini PC devices thanks to AI data center demand, new IDC research has claimed. The report did not detail specific forecasts, however "moderate" and "pessimistic" scenarios were uncovered showing a smartphone market contraction of up to 5.2% in 2026, and up to 8.9% for PCs in the same period. Major vendors like Lenovo, Dell, HP, Acer and Asus have warned of 15-20% price hikes from the second half of 2026, making now the perfect time to upgrade. Buying a new PC? You might want to hurry up Low-margin Android OEMs like Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo are most exposed, and so are more likely to pass costs to consumers, while the likes of Apple and Samsung are likely better insulated thanks to higher margins.

MacBooks Are the Latest Victim of the Memory Shortage. Here's Why ...

www.pcmag.com

Apple's 2026 MacBook Neo seemed to buck this trend, debuting at just $599 as a budget option during this crisis. That's a scenario Apple pulled off using stashes of processors culled from the manufacturing of its smartphone chips, and by leveraging its deeply refined manufacturing process. The Top Laptops of CES 2026: Our Editors' Picks for Business, Gaming, Mobility, and More · MacBook Air vs. MacBook Pro: Which Apple Laptop Line Is Best for You? High-end laptops for gaming and media creation are already luxury items, but prices for 32GB and 64GB systems will soar further. High-memory configurations (in any category) are going to get a lot more expensive. ... Meanwhile, ultraportable laptops (both business and consumer models) may shift entirely to soldered memory chips—aside from Lenovo's ThinkPad T-series and Framework's modular offerings, socketed DDR5 RAM was already hard to find in these kinds of laptops. This year, AI-centric memory is projected to consume 70% of global memory hardware production, according to TrendForce, a Taiwan-based industry analysis and consulting company focused on the semiconductor industry. As PC users feel the squeeze on memory, they're likely to turn to fast solid-state drives (SSDs) and software solutions to offset constrained RAM. But the companies making DRAM overlap with those making the NAND chips used for the SSDs that laptops and desktops rely on. And if DRAM demand is pulling manufacturing capacity away from consumer DRAM chips, it will also pull capacity away from the chips that make up SSDs.

Upgrade Gaming Laptop RAM: 12 Steps, 45 Min [2026]

tech-insider.org

Should I buy RAM now given the 2026 price surge, or wait for prices to drop? Pricing throughout 2026 has moved consistently upward as AI infrastructure demand competes with consumer DRAM supply, and there’s no confirmed near-term catalyst reversing that trend. Industry insights, the latest tech news, and special interviews, every week. One email a week. No spam, unsubscribe anytime. ... Tech Insider delivers in-depth coverage of the technologies shaping the future: AI, cybersecurity, cloud computing, hardware, and the trends that matter. Industry insights, the latest tech news, and special interviews, all in the Tech Insider Newsletter. One email a week. No spam, unsubscribe anytime. ... Add Tech Insider once in the Google app and our stories appear in your news suggestions. Add Now · The DRAM market has been reshaped by AI infrastructure spending. Hyperscalers buying memory for training clusters have soaked up fab capacity that used to flow to consumer SO-DIMMs and desktop DIMMs, and that scarcity shows up directly at checkout. Gaming laptop RAM used to be an afterthought purchase. Not anymore. DDR5 module prices have climbed sharply through 2026 as AI data center demand pulls DRAM supply away from consumer parts, and a 32GB DDR5 SO-DIMM kit that cost roughly $95 before the shortage now runs $400 to $500 at most US retailers.