CES 2026 is in full swing and I’ve been surrounded by PC {hardware} all week. Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm are happy with their new platforms. PC producers have unveiled lots of impressive new laptops, and I even noticed fanless air-cooling technology for handhelds. But one factor I haven’t seen is pricing—from anybody I’ve talked to.
“Have you announced pricing on this yet?” is a query I stored asking, and to date I haven’t gotten any solutions. So, I ended asking. CES usually isn’t a spot the place you hear about pricing, however issues are particularly chaotic for the PC trade this yr.
Skyrocketing RAM costs are complicated your complete trade
RAM costs are skyrocketing. Some shops are even promoting it at “market price,” prefer it’s lobster or one thing. Rising reminiscence costs additionally imply that SSD costs are up, though much less dramatically. Research agency IDC expects PC prices to increase by 20 percent in 2026.
Foundry
There’s plenty of uncertainty within the air and nobody desires to announce costs due to it. For one factor, it’s unclear how costly RAM goes to be within the months forward. But additionally, I really feel like no producer desires to go first—in the event you announce a value, your competitor can use that to undercut you. PC producers are determining how you can unfold value will increase throughout their {hardware} lineup, too.
When I speak to individuals about pricing, all of them shrug and say the RAM state of affairs is chaotic. No one is aware of precisely the way it will have an effect on PC costs.
The tariff story nobody desires to speak about
The PC trade suffered by means of fairly the mess final yr. PC producers introduced plenty of pricing previous to the revealing of the tariffs—after which they needed to stroll all of it again.
In early 2025, I had one PC producer inform me, level clean, {that a} laptop computer’s MSRP had gone up by $200 as a consequence of tariffs. After that, everybody was extraordinarily quiet. Many PCs arrived with greater than anticipated costs. In 2025, I reviewed plenty of funds laptops that felt like that they had a couple of too many corners reduce for his or her retail costs. PC producers moved manufacturing between countries to reduce the influence of tariffs.
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This week, the US Supreme Court is expected to rule on tariffs. It’s unclear what the ruling shall be and what its results shall be. Who desires to announce pricing earlier than the mud settles on that?
Here’s one other story that individuals not often speak about with regards to PC pricing: the US greenback had an enormous decline in 2025, falling 9 percent against other major currencies. If you’re setting PC {hardware} costs in {dollars} and people {dollars} are falling in opposition to different currencies, that’s an enormous issue.
These PCs weren’t designed for this chaotic RAM market
It takes a major period of time to design and manufacture a PC or some other type of {hardware} system. Truth is, the {hardware} being proven off by PC producers at CES 2026 was designed for a unique world—one the place RAM and SSD costs remained secure.
In an alternate world the place RAM costs had been knowingly headed for the moon, Microsoft might have spent the previous couple of years optimizing Windows 11 to work effectively with 8GB of RAM reasonably than setting 16GB because the de facto commonplace with its Copilot+ PC requirements. We’d in all probability see fewer premium laptops with 32GB of RAM, which is commonly pointless for a lot of workloads however fascinating for producers who wish to embody it as a flex to promote higher-spec fashions.
Matt Smith / Foundry
We would possibly’ve additionally seen extra user-upgradeable RAM on laptops. This is a characteristic that’s usually confined to business laptops, some gaming laptops, and tinkerer-friendly {hardware} just like the Framework laptops.
Instead, 2025 noticed plenty of laptops with non-user-upgradeable RAM. Intel integrated RAM into Lunar Lake’s SoC design, and lots of laptop computer producers caught with soldered RAM that wasn’t user-upgradeable.
The way forward for PCs could also be working methods which can be extra environment friendly with RAM, extra {hardware} that offers customers the power to simply improve, and—sadly—greater costs throughout.
Do MSRPs imply something in 2026?
The fastened “manufacturer suggested retail price” might not make sense anymore in 2026. It already didn’t make a lot sense in 2025.
RAM is simply the newest chaotic factor right here. The forces of provide and demand are at work within the part market, and the trade is shopping for up a lot reminiscence for AI knowledge facilities that buyers and the PC trade are now not the precedence. That’s why Crucial stopped selling RAM to consumers and targeted on knowledge facilities as an alternative.
The thought {that a} PC producer may set a hard and fast value for {hardware} when manufacturing and import prices are in such flux could also be outdated now. For instance, Microsoft retains raising Xbox hardware prices. Instead of an MSRP that drops, as in earlier {hardware} generations, we’re now seeing MSRPs that improve over time for all kinds of causes that every one maintain driving prices up. Companies like CyberPowerPC have raised prices in response to RAM prices going up, too.
There’s nonetheless worth to be discovered
Hardware costs are going up. While that sucks, it’s not a purpose to keep away from buying a machine you actually love. People usually speak about investing in high quality gadgets that actually matter, like an excellent pair of sneakers or a mattress. I’d say the identical for laptops and PCs: in the event you use it quite a bit, you must prioritize your PC and get one thing you’re actually pleased with.
If you’re searching for worth, it’s nonetheless on the market. Despite the truth that RAM costs are up, there are nonetheless a number of great deals you can find on laptops and pre-built desktop PCs. The similar will probably be true for next-generation {hardware}… in the event you can wait.
I’m grateful there’s nonetheless a PC trade making superior merchandise, even when some producers like Crucial are pulling out of it. At least Nvidia nonetheless makes shopper GPUs, even when they only had software program advances like a new version of DLSS to unveil this yr.
I stay up for listening to extra concerning the pricing on these machines and peripherals within the months forward. I’m simply not listening to a lot about it on the bottom at CES 2026.
Further studying: The best of CES 2026 and what blew us away