Laptop prices expected to soar by around 40% as AI crunch takes hold — analyst says rising mainstream models priced at $900 could hit more than $1,200 due to rising memory, storage, and CPU costs

The PC market is being pummeled by precipitous decline and increasing component costs, with an industry analyst saying that these factors could cause laptop prices to increase by around 40%. TrendForce says that this price hike is likely to happen if manufacturers, distributors, and retailers were to keep their margins, resulting in mainstream models that cost $900 hitting around $1,260. These cost pressures are driven by the continued memory and storage chip shortage, resulting in out-of-control pricing, as well as Intel raising the prices on several generations of modern CPUs.

Before these shortages, RAM modules and SSDs were about 15% of the bill-of-materials of a mainstream device, with the CPU making up another 30%, for a total of 45% for these three major components. However, recent events meant that this number is now closer to 58%. However, this 13% increase in cost does not accommodate the profit margins of the entire supply chain; that’s why the retail pricing for laptops is expected to rise much more significantly.