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PC Prices Soar as Dollar Plummets and RAM Costs Explode
13 Jan
Summary
- The US dollar fell 9% against major currencies in 2025, impacting PC hardware pricing.
- CES 2026 PCs were designed before the chaotic RAM market and dollar decline.
- Future PCs may feature more RAM-efficient OS, user-upgradeable hardware, and higher prices.
The global PC market is bracing for higher prices, influenced significantly by a 9% depreciation of the US dollar against major currencies in 2025. This economic shift impacts how hardware, particularly memory components, is priced. The PCs unveiled at CES 2026, designed in a more stable economic climate, now face the reality of volatile RAM and SSD costs.
Manufacturers might have prioritized Windows 11 optimization for 8GB of RAM if they had foreseen the surge in memory prices. Instead, the trend leaned towards 16GB as standard for Copilot+ PCs, with many premium laptops offering 32GB. The lack of user-upgradeable RAM in many 2025 laptops, including those with Intel's Lunar Lake SoC and soldered memory, exacerbates this issue.
The trajectory for future PCs points towards operating systems with improved RAM efficiency and hardware designed for easier user upgrades. However, these advancements are expected to coincide with an overall increase in consumer prices across the PC market.
