Samsung Warns of Price Increases in 2026

Samsung is warning that consumers around the world may soon feel the strain of rising memory chip costs as the global semiconductor market continues to tighten, Bloomberg reports.

Executives from the South Korean tech giant have said supply shortages and surging demand for memory components are pressuring prices across multiple sectors of the electronics industry, a shift that could lead to higher retail costs for devices ranging from smartphones to laptops and televisions.

At the CES in Las Vegas this week, Samsung’s president and head of global marketing, Wonjin Lee, told reporters that escalating memory prices could impact “everyone” in the tech ecosystem.

The company has already seen contract prices for key memory products jump dramatically, driven in part by a huge pick up in demand from artificial intelligence data centers and cloud infrastructure builders that gobble up vast amounts of advanced chips.

Memory chips, especially dynamic random access memory and high bandwidth memory used in servers and data processing gear, have become critical in supporting the explosive growth of AI services. This demand surge has pushed supply well beyond existing production capacity and forced manufacturers like Samsung and rival SK hynix to prioritize production for enterprise clients, leaving fewer chips available for consumer electronics makers.

Counterpoint Research and other industry watchers predict that memory prices could continue to rise strongly in early 2026, with conventional DRAM and NAND flash chips expected to see double digit contract price increases in the first quarter.

Samsung itself has already passed through some of these higher costs, with reported memory price increases last year reaching up to 60 percent for certain modules. Executives said they are trying to avoid directly passing all of these increases onto consumers but admitted that repricing some products might become inevitable if current market conditions persist.

The memory crunch is affecting a range of tech categories. Smartphone manufacturers are facing higher component bills that could translate into pricier handsets in 2026. Earlier reports suggest the upcoming Galaxy S26 lineup may carry elevated prices compared with its predecessor, a shift partly attributed to the memory cost environment.