The Era of Unlimited Storage Is Over — Price Hikes and Cutbacks Have Arrived
# Global Storage Price Surge: Why Your Next PC or Phone Will Cost More
It’s that time of year again when major tech companies release their annual financial reports. But this year, buried in their forecasts is a strikingly consistent warning:
> **_Due to rising costs across the global storage industry, product prices will increase next year._**
_Image｜GIGAZINE_
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## From Memory to GPUs — The Wave Hits Everything
Last month, we covered rising memory prices. This time, the surge is bigger:
- Not only phones and PCs are affected,
- **Even upstream GPU and board manufacturers aren’t spared.**
For the fragile DIY PC market, this is bad news. Next year was supposed to be a milestone with CPU/GPU processes moving from 3nm to 2nm — now, **rising memory prices will make “building a PC” painfully expensive**.
Worst case? At current rates, buying a Mac Studio with 512GB RAM would mean **you’re paying only for the RAM** — the M3 Ultra CPU, casing, Thunderbolt 5 controller, and SSD are effectively “free.”
_True definition of “buy RAM, get computer free”_
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## Memory Price Hikes Are Inevitable
In our previous article, we detailed why RAM modules, SSDs, and phone storage are getting more expensive.
**The speed and scale were unexpected:**
- My own KingBank DDR4 3600 dual 16GB kit cost ¥349 in January.
- **Today, that same kit costs 3× more.**
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### Why AI Is Fueling the Surge
Forecasts for late-2025 price hikes stem from **AI-driven demand**, such as:
- OpenAI’s **$3 trillion AI infrastructure plan** (*Stargate*),
- Microsoft, Amazon, Apple building new data centers.
These rely heavily on **enterprise-grade High Bandwidth Memory (HBM)**.
Only **Samsung**, **SK Hynix**, and **Micron** can mass-produce HBM/DRAM — controlling about **95% of the global DRAM market**.
_2023 DRAM market: near-complete monopoly ｜ YOLE Intelligence_
Instead of artificial supply cuts, DRAM giants are **diverting production capacity into high-profit enterprise products**, leaving less for consumer RAM.
_SK Hynix Wuxi Plant fire in 2018, followed by price surge_
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### Shortages Spread to GPUs
The shortage now affects:
- DDR4 / DDR5 for PCs,
- GDDR6 / GDDR7 for graphics cards.
**NVIDIA’s response (unconfirmed leak):**
- Will stop selling GPUs bundled with memory chips.
- Board partners (ASUS, Gigabyte, Colorful) source RAM independently.
_Image｜NiceHash_
Rationale: NVIDIA needs the chips for its own enterprise AI products.
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### AiToEarn for Industry Creators
Platforms like [AiToEarn官网](https://aitoearn.ai/) help content creators respond to rapid tech shifts.
**AiToEarn = AI content generation + cross-platform publishing + analytics and model ranking**, covering Douyin, Kwai, WeChat, YouTube, Instagram, and X (Twitter).
Explore: [AiToEarn博客](https://blog.aitoearn.ai) | [AI模型排名](https://rank.aitoearn.ai).
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## AMD and the Wider Market Impact
AMD’s RX 9000 (like Nvidia’s RTX 50) also depends on GDDR6/GDDR7.
Even without a confirmed model change, **storage price pressure makes it possible**.
**Key trend:**
- AI giants & data centers buy more memory,
- Manufacturers cut consumer-grade supply,
- Monthly price increases: **+100–200%**.
The shockwave is moving from DRAM fab giants → NVIDIA & AMD → OEMs → DIY PC & smartphones.
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## Smartphone Market: The Good Times Are Ending
TrendForce survey (Q4 2024):
- DRAM contract prices: **+75% YoY**,
- NAND Flash also rising.
Forecast: By 2026, smartphone BOM costs to rise **5–7%**, peaking at ~10%.
_Image｜iFixit_
Example:
- RMB 5,499 phone = memory & storage ~15% of BOM
- Flash prices doubling ⇒ +RMB 500–700 retail price.
**Mid-range pain:** RMB 3,000–4,000 phones can’t absorb this.
**Flagships** may handle it — for now.
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## Processor Pressure: AI Competes for 2nm Chips
By 2026, smartphone processors go from 3nm → 2nm.
TSMC’s 2nm quotes are climbing. First buyer could be… **OpenAI** (not Apple).
> **AI is competing with you for CPUs as well as RAM.**
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## Brand-by-Brand: Who’s Safe?
- **Huawei** — long-term supply contracts protect against quarterly surges. Mate 80 standard edition is priced lower than last year.
- **Samsung** — in-house DRAM supply keeps S26 series increase to ~$50.
- **Apple** — strong supply chain, but monopoly pricing leaves little room to negotiate.
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### Apple Intelligence Effect
iPhone 18 may feature **12GB RAM** → possible ¥1,000 price hike.
TSMC also raising sub-5nm pricing, hitting **A20 Pro** CPU.
_Image｜MacRumors_
#### Expect:
- Mainstream configs dropping from 16GB → 12GB RAM.
- Greater focus on **software optimization** for efficiency.
_Image｜Bloomberg_
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## AI Will Keep Pushing Hardware Prices Up
Key insight:
- DRAM price hikes in late-2025 are **not** part of normal tech cycles.
- Driven by **AI workloads consuming capacity**.
PC market faces even more strain with DDR4/DDR5 dependency.
Possible: “Barebones” laptops — BYO RAM & SSD.
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## Creators Need to Adapt Too
Hardware prices rise, but creators can offset impact using platforms like **[AiToEarn](https://aitoearn.ai/)**:
- **AI content creation** + **multi-platform publishing** (Douyin, Kwai, WeChat, Bilibili, Rednote, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, YouTube, Pinterest, X)
- Built-in analytics & AI model rankings.
Resources: [Docs](https://docs.aitoearn.ai) | [GitHub](https://github.com/yikart/AiToEarn)
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