Laptop Prices Could Rise Up To 40% In 2026: How Apple, HP And Dell Are Plotting To Navigate Rising Memory Prices

• Assuming an average retail price of $900, TrendForce says notebook brands may need to raise prices by at least 30% to maintain current margins across the supply chain.
• If both memory and CPU prices rise, their combined share of the bill of materials (BOM) costs for notebooks could climb from 45% to around 58%.
• HP said it has formed strategic inventory positions with a new supplier, while Dell said it would make adjustments to keep its hardware within customers’ budgets. 

The next laptop upgrade could come with a steeper price tag as tight supply and surging memory chip prices have pressured companies from consumer electronics makers and even automakers. According to a new analysis by TrendForce, the price of a laptop could rise as much as 40% this year.

Notebook makers are facing pressure on multiple fronts: DRAM and NAND flash memory have become more expensive and harder to secure, while the cost of core processors is also rising, against the backdrop of broadly weak demand for new notebooks.

Assuming the average retail price is $900, TrendForce notes that notebook brands would need to bump that by at least 30% just to maintain existing profit margins across the supply chain. 

If both memory and CPU prices rise, their combined share of the bill of materials (BOM) costs could climb from 45% to around 58%.

Here’s a look at what key notebook producers have said on how they are looking to mitigate the pressure from issues in the memory market:

Apple 

“Memory had a minimal impact on the Q1, so the December quarter gross margin. We do expect it to be a bit more of an impact to the Q2 gross margin and that was comprehended in the outlook of 48% to 49%,’ Apple CEO Tim Cook said on Apple’s earnings call on Jan. 29.

“We do continue to see market pricing for memory increasing significantly… Beyond Q2, I don't really want to comment on supply,” he said, sharing little in terms of what the company is doing to mitigate higher prices.

Earlier this month, Apple released new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models with its latest M5 chip. Although they pack more storage, their starting price is higher than that of the previous versions.

Dell Technologies

Dell is working with its partners to secure the memory supply, relying on its long-term service agreements, and said it would make adjustments to keep its hardware within customers’ budgets. 

“We continue to work with our long-term partners. We've had LTAs in place. We've had capacity agreements in place,” Chief Operating Officer Jeffrey Clarke said on the company’s earnings call on Feb. 26.

Clarke said the cost of a gigabyte of DRAM over the last 6 months is up nearly 5.5x at $2.39, while the cost of NAND per gigabyte is up four times to $0.20. “Those are probably in ballparks where things are,” he said.

HP Inc

HP said it would also rely on its long-standing agreements to secure memory supply on priority and favourable pricing.

“We've qualified new suppliers built in strategic inventory positions for key platforms and cut the time to qualify new material in half to accelerate our product configuration changes,” interim CEO Bruce Broussard said on HP’s earnings call on Feb. 24.

“Second, on the cost side, we've expanded lower-cost sourcing across our commodity basket, lowering logistics costs with agile end-to-end planning processes as part of the company-wide AI-enabled program. And we've accelerated company-wide productivity efforts as part of this program to use the company-wide broader cost base to execute offset. “

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