Sticker shock: Laptop prices soar as AI, memory demand drive up costs

Three years ago, a Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Book3 Pro laptop cost around 1.9 million won. The 2026 models are priced from 3.41 million won to nearly 5 million won.

Galaxy Book6 Pro product poster [SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS]

Three years ago, an office worker bought Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Book3 Pro laptop for around 1.9 million won ($1,290). But when the same office worker recently checked the price of a new model, they were stunned: the 2026 models were priced from 3.41 million won to nearly 5 million won.

“The performance has improved, sure, but with prices more than doubling, it’s just out of reach,” the buyer said. “I’m thinking of replacing my battery or looking for an older, lower-spec model instead.”

The 2026 Galaxy Book6 laptop series will go on sale on Jan. 27. The 14-inch Galaxy Book 6 Pro is priced at 3.41 million won, and the 16-inch version at 3.51 million won. That’s a steep jump from the previous Book5 Pro series, which sold for between 1.77 million and 2.81 million won.

The higher-end Galaxy Book6 Ultra is only available in two variants: one with a lower-spec graphics card at 4.63 million won, and another with a higher-spec GPU at 4.93 million won. Unlike the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra, released two years ago with options ranging from 3.36 million to 5.09 million won, the entry point for the new Ultra model has risen significantly — now starting in the mid-4-million-won range.

LG Electronics is in a similar position. The 16-inch LG Gram Pro AI 2026 is priced at 3.14 million won, 500,000 won more than a similar predecessor with similar specs. Global laptop manufacturers, including Dell Technologies, Asus and Lenovo, have also raised launch prices across their latest lineups.

The main reason behind the soaring laptop prices is the rising cost of memory semiconductors. The contract price for an 8-gigabit DDR4 DRAM (dynamic random access memory) — the standard type for PCs — reached $9.30 in December last year, up from $1.35 in March, according to market tracker DRAMeXchange. That marks nine consecutive months of price increases.

With manufacturers focusing production on high-performance memory like high bandwidth memory (HBM), the supply of conventional DRAM — which offers lower margins — has tightened, pushing prices upward.

Samsung Electronics CEO Roh Tae-moon speaks to reporters during a press conference held in Las Vegas on Jan. 6, 2026, a day ahead of the opening of CES 2026. [YONHAP]

Companies are caught in a bind — they can’t compromise on performance just to cut costs. Korean manufacturers are also grappling with a weaker won and high exchange rates. Core components like CPUs and GPUs, which serve as the brains of laptops, are imported from U.S. companies like Intel and Nvidia.

“It’s difficult to lower the final product price when key components are bought at such high exchange rates,” said an industry source.

Samsung Electronics CEO Roh Tae-moon promised to lead the popularization of AI experiences and become the "AI companion" in people's everyday lives on Jan. 4 during CES 2026 in Las Vegas. Building an AI PC requires larger, higher-spec memory and storage, which inevitably drives up prices. The risk, however, is that those higher prices may come back to bite the industry in the form of weakened demand.

That concern extends beyond laptops. Samsung’s Galaxy S26 smartphone series, set to be unveiled in February, is also expected to see a price hike.

Market research firm IDC projected that global smartphone shipments would decline by 2.9 to 5.2 percent this year compared to 2025, due to rising device prices fueled by soaring memory costs. With consumers holding off on purchases, the broader IT market faces a potential contraction.

Samsung is reportedly attempting to ease cost pressures by using its in-house Exynos 2600 application processor for the Galaxy S26 base and Plus models. Still, “rising component material costs, especially memory prices, are the biggest burden” on the smartphone business, Roh said. “It will inevitably impact product pricing to some extent.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom. BY YI WOO-LIM [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]