Although it's obvious to me that most computer devices are actually a lot less expensive than they were 20 years ago, the present cost of ram may change that..
The RAM price crisis shows no signs of stopping anytime soon, ... Samsung has now raised the contract price of its DDR5 RAM by more than 100%, increasing the cost to $19.50 per unit. Earlier this year, the price was around $7, making this a massive spike.
The contract price refers to the bulk pricing agreements between DRAM manufacturers (like Samsung) and large buyers, such as Dell, HP and more. The analyst also mentions that the Korean tech giant has bumped up the cost of last-gen DDR4 RAM to $18, meaning even older RAM sticks will be priced similarly to DDR5.
... Samsung has told its customers (OEMs) that there is simply "no stock" available, hence the rise in price. Not only does this mean that manufacturers will have to pay more for the RAM they need, but this will likely cause a knock-on effect to consumers, meaning higher prices for phones, laptops and more in 2026. ...
Lenovo and Dell tipped to raise prices on their laptops and PCs. What's more, ... companies like Apple and Samsung will likely raise prices while reducing RAM capacity. So far, it appears the latter has proven true... laptop manufacturers will put the bare minimum amount of RAM, making 16GB become high-end and 8GB reserved for mid-range and budget models.
I had read that the shortage is largely due to the building of huge AI data centers.
It's not only RAM, but anything with large amounts of storage, such as hard drives, SSD's, SD's, etc. And it's supposedly going to get worse before it gets any better, shooting technology prices sky high.
Unless, of course, AI implodes sooner rather than later.