How the AI boom is forcing tech prices higher - ABC News

摘要: How the AI boom is forcing tech prices higher

Brianna Morris-Grant

Teresa Tan

Ashley Kyd

Story Lab

Technology

正文

How the AI boom is forcing tech prices higher

Brianna Morris-Grant

Teresa Tan

Ashley Kyd

Story Lab

Technology

Tue 1 Sep 2026 at 1:19pm

Tue 1 Sep 2026 at 1:19pm

Tue 1 Sep 2026 at 1:19pm

, updated

Tue 1 Sep 2026 at 1:56pm

Tue 1 Sep 2026 at 1:56pm

Tue 1 Sep 2026 at 1:56pm

ABC News: Teresa Tan

Smartphone prices are on the rise, and the reasons come down to the business of AI.

Beneath the surface, smartphones contain thousands of individual parts.

The internal workings of smartphones rely heavily on memory.

Lurking behind the screen, the battery, the speakers and the camera, a single chip is the main thing keeping your phone running.

Memory chips are crucial to all modern smartphones, as well as much of our other everyday technology.

This is the dynamic random-access memory chip (DRAM), the short-term working memory inside your phone.

It's what lets you switch quickly between apps while your phone processes information.

DRAM chips are at the centre of escalating tech costs.

ABC News: Teresa Tan

And if you're looking to buy a new phone, this chip could be the reason it's about to cost you a whole lot more.

The rise of AI data centres is making memory chips a scarce commodity and consumers are paying the price.

The memory problem does not stop with your phone.

Those same DRAM and NAND chips also live inside your laptop, desktop computers and gaming consoles.

And right now, there are not enough of them to go around.

Last year, NAND and RAM memory were both incredibly cheap. At one point, a 16-gigabyte RAM chip cost as little as $4.76.

But that began skyrocketing in late 2025 and that same chip could cost you almost $60 as of June, according to the WA Data Science Innovation Hub (WADSIH).

The budget smartphone market is the latest victim of the global shortage, with multiple tech bosses saying memory chips are now their most expensive component.

Samsung has already hiked the price of its phones and its ta

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