is a senior editor and founding member of The Verge who covers gadgets, games, and toys. He spent 15 years editing the likes of CNET, Gizmodo, and Engadget.
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Maybe you’ve heard: Memory is expensive now. The price of RAM has tripled, quadrupled, even sextupled depending on the type of chip, all because AI companies are gobbling it up.
But maybe you’ve thought: I don’t buy memory sticks! I don’t build my own PCs! It won’t affect me, right?
I’m here to tell you RAM is coming for your wallet anyhow.
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. And even if you don’t plan to buy, you depend on goods and services from others who’ll be paying more to upgrade their devices.
“RAMageddon” is only getting worse, and there’s no immediate end in sight. Everything that has a computer inside depends on RAM, and almost everything has a computer in it now: farm tractors, hospital equipment, your TV set-top box. RAM is the short-term memory of a device, and AI especially needs lots to juggle all the data it’s processing. And most of that RAM comes from just three companies that are happily prioritizing the AI gold rush over everything else.
But we do know that RAMageddon is coming for your phone next.
RAM in your phone
Analysts from IDC, Omdia, and Counterpoint agree: 2026 was one of the best years ever for smartphone sales, growing shipments roughly 2 percent to roughly 1.25 billion phones in a single year. Apple reported record iPhone sales in January.
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