New Delhi: Those who are now planning to upgrade their devices should be prepared to pay more. Because the ongoing AI boom has caused a worldwide memory shortage, the smartphone makers may be passing on the rising cost to consumers. While some of the phone manufacturers like Samsung and Oppo have already bumped up the price of select models by a significant amount, others are also expected to follow suit. The recently launched 8GB version of the Galaxy A17 was initially selling for Rs 18,999. But now, the Samsung website indicates that this particular configuration is out of stock, and it is selling the 6GB version for 19,499.
Some of the rumours also had it that Apple might be planning to increase the price of the iPhone 17 series, but that may not happen soon, as the tech giant may have started manufacturing a few months prior to the global memory crunch. From Google to OpenAI to Microsoft, all the major tech giants are pouring billions of dollars into leasing computing power for their AI chatbots. Earlier this month, Micron, the third-largest RAM manufacturer in the world after Samsung and SK Hynix, announced the shutdown of its consumer-centric brand.
The company also stated that it made the decision because it wanted to focus more on AI companies, which are purchasing RAM and storage in bulk. Compared to consumer-grade memory and storage, the profit margin is much higher when it comes to enterprise-grade memory, also known as HBM. RAM prices have already more than doubled in the last few months, and experts have stated that the global memory shortage may be here to stay for the next few years. Currently, the RAM market is in a tight spot, as memory makers like Samsung and SK Hynix are unable to make enough memory to meet the demand of these data centres.
