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Microsoft announced optimizations to Windows 11 aimed at devices with only 8GB of RAM, claiming the system is now up to 20% more responsive and 40% faster at multitasking in its own lab tests. The company says it achieved this through memory compression that keeps up to 2GB more active data in RAM, reduced background indexing during active use, and efficiency tweaks including a 33% faster Edge browser launch.
Valve's latest Steam Hardware Survey shows the share of gamer systems with 32GB or more RAM fell by over 5% in a single month, while PCs with 1TB or more total storage dropped nearly 5%. Correspondingly, the proportion of systems with 8GB and 16GB RAM rose, as did those in the 750GB-999GB storage bracket.
TrendForce reports conventional DRAM contract prices jumped roughly 93-98% quarter over quarter in early 2026, driven partly by manufacturers shifting production toward AI data center memory. Micron exited its Crucial consumer RAM business this year citing AI demand, while HP says memory and storage will make up about 35% of its PC component costs in 2026, up from 15-18% previously, and has warned of PC price hikes. Used DDR4 kits offer some savings over new ones but still cost far more than in 2020.
In a Cheeky Pint interview, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said it's "quite terrible" that DRAM sits mostly unused inside consumer devices, since he estimates it's active only about 5% of the time. He argued memory would be better utilized in data centers, which run hardware near-continuously, citing PCs with local AI features and open-source LLMs as examples of inefficient use.
SK Hynix has told customers that RAM and flash memory shortages, driven largely by AI demand, are likely to continue through at least 2030. Apple is reportedly among 14 major tech companies with long-term priority supply agreements, but these contracts include clauses allowing SK Hynix to raise prices in line with market conditions.
Counterpoint's Q3 data shows global PC shipments dropped to 57 million units from over 70 million a year earlier, a 21 percent year-over-year decline and a 13.8 percent drop from the prior quarter. The firm forecasts a roughly 27 percent year-over-year decline for Q4 and expects weak conditions to persist into 2027. Lenovo remains the top vendor despite a 23 percent decline, HP fell 31 percent, Dell dropped 25 percent, while Apple slipped only 11 percent, gaining relative market share.
Dell's XPS 13 and Apple's entry-level MacBook still ship with 8GB of RAM, but prices have risen sharply this year—Dell's base configuration climbed $100 and Apple's MacBook went from $599 to $699 amid broader June price hikes. TrendForce reports that memory, storage and CPUs now account for 68 percent of a mainstream laptop's bill of materials.
A 32GB DDR5 6000 memory kit, widely used as a benchmark for mainstream PC pricing, now costs $449.97, up from $400 in August. RAM prices overall have risen more than 500% since last year amid an AI-driven component shortage, though cheaper options like a 32GB DDR5 4800 kit remain available at $399.
Nvidia and partners including Acer, Asus, Dell, Gigabyte, HP and MSI will release a 64GB version of the GB10-based DGX Spark system on October 23, priced from $4,999. The new tier sits alongside the existing 128GB configuration, which currently sells for roughly $7,000 to $9,000 due to memory shortages.
Micron's FY27 guidance states that demand from humanoid robots and other physical AI devices could outpace data centers as a driver of memory and storage demand. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said each humanoid robot needs roughly 200GB of DRAM and several terabytes of storage, and that current memory demand already exceeds supply by about 50%. The company expects new cleanroom capacity to be insufficient to ease the shortage soon.
Samsung has raised US prices on nearly every Galaxy S26 model by $100, and by $200 on the 1TB S26 Ultra, according to Phone Arena. The base S26 now costs $999, bringing it $200 above the original S25 price once an earlier $100 launch-price increase is factored in. The Galaxy S26 FE is the only model in the lineup that wasn't hit by this latest increase.
Average consumer memory prices have risen sharply since last September, with 2TB NVMe SSDs up 137%, 32GB DDR5 kits up 363%, and some 64GB DDR5-6000 kits up nearly 500%. High-capacity RAM like 128GB and 512GB ECC kits has become scarce or drastically more expensive, and a 4TB Samsung SSD that cost $390 in 2024 now runs $1,100. IDC data cited alongside these figures shows smartphone average selling prices are also expected to climb 27.6% in 2026 amid falling shipments, while Apple has raised prices across much of its product line.