By bizn_fun 
With prices trending upwards, customers will likely be left deciding whether to pay more or accept a less powerful device.
“Most of the market intelligence we have received would suggest pricing and supply will be a challenge worldwide throughout 2026 into 2027,” Mr Mason said.
And some big firms have turned their nose up at the consumer market altogether.
Micron, previously one of the biggest sellers of Ram, announced in December it would stop selling its Crucial brand to focus on AI demand, external.
“It removes one of the biggest players from the market,” Mr Mason said.
“On the one hand, that’s less choice for consumers – on the other hand, if their entire production ploughs into AI, it should free up capacity for the others to make more for consumers, so it may balance out.”
Mr Howard said a typical laptop, with 16GB of Ram, could see its manufacturing cost increase by $40 to $50 (£30 to £37) in 2026 – and this “will likely be passed on to consumers”.
“Smartphones will also see upwards pressure on their prices,” he said.
“A typical smartphone could see it’s cost to build increase $30 which, again, will likely get passed on directly to consumer.”
And Mr Williams said there might be another outcome of increased prices too.
“Computers are a commodity – an everyday item that people need in a modern day world,” he said.
“With the increase in memory prices, consumers will need to decide to either pay a higher price for the performance they need, or accept a compromise in a lower performing device.”
There is, of course, another option, says Mr Williams – consumers might have to “make do with old tech for a little longer.”