The PC market is being pummeled by precipitous decline and increasing component costs, with an industry analyst saying that these factors could cause laptop prices to increase by around 40%. TrendForce says that this price hike is likely to happen if manufacturers, distributors, and retailers were to keep their margins, resulting in mainstream models that cost $900 hitting around $1,260. These cost pressures are driven by the continued memory and storage chip shortage, resulting in out-of-control pricing, as well as Intel raising the prices on several generations of modern CPUs.
Before these shortages, RAM modules and SSDs were about 15% of the bill-of-materials of a mainstream device, with the CPU making up another 30%, for a total of 45% for these three major components. However, recent events meant that this number is now closer to 58%. However, this 13% increase in cost does not accommodate the profit margins of the entire supply chain; that’s why the retail pricing for laptops is expected to rise much more significantly.
We’ve been hearing reports of the rising memory and storage costs since the last quarter of 2025. One key player in the storage industry even warned that the NAND shortage could cause entire businesses to shut down because of their inability to secure supply. These parts are in short supply because of the massive demand of AI hyperscalers and data centers for high-bandwidth memory and fast storage. Since these enterprises are willing to pay top-dollar compared to the average consumer, almost all suppliers have pivoted their manufacturing capacity towards these more lucrative products.
But what many did not expect in 2026 was that the AI boom would also hit CPUs, with Intel and AMD both reporting spikes in demand, as well as server CPU shortages in China. This is largely driven by agentic AI, which requires a combination of CPUs, GPUs, NPUs, and more to support its workflow. This is also apparent in the consumer market as enthusiasts experiment with OpenClaw, resulting in extended delivery timelines for high-end Apple Mac units with massive Unified Memory configurations.
This is bad news for Microsoft and many laptop manufacturers, especially as many entry-level and mid-range buyers choose Windows laptops for sub-$1,000 budgets. If this price increase estimate rings true, then it would make these models no longer priced attractively versus the new M5 MacBook Air, with its $1,099 base price that comes with 16GB of Unified Memory and 512GB storage. More importantly, the just-released MacBook Neo is now giving entry-level customers an affordable device that comes in a premium package.
