AI-driven memory and storage price hikes have been the defining feature of the PC industry in 2026, and hobbyists have been hit the hardest—companies like Apple with lots of buying power have been able to limit the price increases for their PCs, phones, and other gadgets so far, but smaller outfits like Valve and Raspberry Pi haven't been so lucky.
Framework, the company behind repairable and upgradeable computer designs like the Laptop 13, Laptop 16, and Laptop 12, is also taking a hard hit by price increases. The company stopped selling standalone RAM sticks in November 2025 and has increased prices on one or more of its systems every month since then; this week's increases are hitting the Framework Desktop and the DIY Editions of its various laptops particularly hard.
The price increases are affecting both standalone SODIMM memory modules and the soldered-down LPDDR5X memory used in the Framework Desktop. Patel says that standalone RAM sticks are being priced "as close as we can to the weighted average cost of our purchases from suppliers." In September, buying an 8GB stick of RAM with a Framework Laptop 13 cost $40; it currently costs $130. A 96GB DDR5 kit of two 48GB sticks costs $1,340, up from $480 in September.
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Source: Ars Technica
