MemoryPrices have been rising for several months now—and by multiples—which is why there have been persistent rumors in the market that PC、Graphics Card, and products such as cell phones will see price increases as well. Sure enough, just as the rumors suggested,ASUSThe first shot has been fired! It was recently officially announced that prices for certain products will be adjusted starting January 5, 2026—which is less than a week away. This means that if you’re planning to buy ASUS products, you’d better act fast; after that date, they might end up costing more.
PC prices are starting to rise! ASUS has announced that it will adjust the prices of certain products starting January 5. Anyone planning to buy a PC should take note.
ASUS recently sent a notice to its partners stating, “We expect to implement strategic price adjustments for certain product lines on January 5, 2026.” The main reason, of course, is the rise in memory prices.
ASUS stated that, driven by AI applications, global PC demand remains strong, and several components are facing severe cost pressures, particularly memory (DRAM) and storage components (NAND/SSD). This adjustment is a necessary decision made after absorbing and addressing cost pressures over the long term, with the aim of ensuring “stable supply” and maintaining quality and service standards.
However, ASUS did not specifically list which products are affected, mentioning only certain “product lines” and “configurations.” Since this is due to rising prices for memory and storage components, it is likely that brand-name computers and laptops will be affected, followed by other hardware with built-in memory, such as graphics cards,There have been reports that both NVIDIA and AMD will raise graphics card prices in early 2026.(In fact, more than once.)
And how much will prices go up? The authorities haven’t announced the exact figure yet, but since memory prices have already skyrocketed several times over, everyone should be prepared for this price hike to be quite noticeable.
Below is the full announcement:
Image source: VideoCardz
As early as the Taipei computer event in mid-December of last year, ASUS’s co-CEO had already warned that “price increases for end-user products are already a major trend,” noting that brands still need to appropriately pass on cost increases, though the timing varies from company to company. In fact, in addition to ASUS, Lenovo—the global market leader—has also announced that it will implement price adjustments across its entire product portfolio starting January 5, 2026.
As can be seen, brands such as Gigabyte and MSI are also highly likely to follow suit with these price hikes; it’s just a matter of time. For PC users and DIY enthusiasts, 2026 is really not a great year. According to previous research reports, this wave of memory price increases is expected to continue through mid-2026.
PC price increases will undoubtedly affect sales, so market research firm IDC recently revised its 2026 outlook downward, projecting that PC shipments could decline by as much as 9%. which is significantly lower than the -2.4% forecast in November—a substantial downward revision. Even in a more moderate scenario, shipments are expected to decline by about 5%. At the same time, it is estimated that the average selling price of personal computers (PCs) may rise by 4% to 6% (in a more moderate scenario), while in a pessimistic scenario, it could rise by 6% to 8%:
Image source: IDC
The same applies to the smartphone sector, which is projected to decline by 2.9% in 2026, with the worst-case scenario reaching -5.2%:
Image source: IDC
Source: KOCPC Chinese