When shopping for a new gaming laptop, customers already know that they will need to set aside a significant chunk of money to get the best performance. Unfortunately, that price might be about to take a jump, as several manufacturers are ramping up the price of memory.
According to Korean publication New Daily, Samsung has informed partners of its plans to raise prices for both DRAM and NAND flash memory. DRAM are the type of memory modules used in laptops and PCs, and the LPDDR memory of the sort used in laptops is set to be hiked by between 15 percent to 30 percent.
NAND flash memory is used in the majority of storage, including the SSDs which have largely come to replace HDDs in laptops. While this memory type is also seeing a price increase, this is only likely to be a five to 10 percent hike.
The price of DDR4 RAM for desktop machines has already increased in some areas, due to the decrease in production of DDR4 RAM in favour of DDR5 and HBM, which offer greater profit margins to manufacturers. Earlier this year, Micron and SanDisk both announced price hikes, with Micron raising prices by 20 percent for DRAM and 30 percent for NAND flash.
It is expected that this price hike will be passed along to the consumers, though it will probably take time to filter through. The increased price of the modules has to first filter through the manufacturer and supply chain and make it to retailers. However, it is possible that consumers could see price hikes as soon as Black Friday 2025.
Samsung has reportedly specified that AI PCs such as Copilot+ laptops are driving the demand for high-performance, low-power RAM like the LPDDR5X. High-end smartphones are also driving demand.
All of this means that if you want a reasonably-priced laptop, it might be best to look for a bargain now, or start saving up.
