Google Confirms Pixel Price Increase for All Models as RAM Costs Quadruple
VP Shakil Barkat told 9to5Google the company shielded customers as long as it could - RAM now costs $12 per GB, up from $2.80 last year, and the economics no longer allow it.
A Pixel price increase is now confirmed for every device in Google's lineup, including the budget Pixel 10a. Google VP of Devices and Services Shakil Barkat told 9to5Google that surging RAM costs have "fundamentally shifted" the economics for every device maker worldwide. Google is not immune. Exact prices land at the Pixel 11 launch on August 12, which Google confirmed three weeks ago.
RAM Went From $2.80 to $12 Per Gigabyte in Under a Year
Barkat cited Morgan Stanley research to frame the scale: 1GB of DRAM costs $12 today, up from $2.80 a year ago - a more than fourfold jump in twelve months. Supply is not keeping up. AI companies have consumed enormous volumes of high-bandwidth memory for training and inference, pulling capacity away from consumer device makers while demand for AI-capable smartphones climbs. Micron reported quarterly revenue quadrupled to $41 billion on the back of that boom, and Samsung moved its Yongin chip factory to 2029 as AI memory orders pushed the schedule forward.
Barkat said Google shielded customers from direct impact "wherever possible" until now. Google is not alone in making that call. REDMAGIC told Neowin the $200 premium on its Astra 2 Gaming Tablet over last year's model traces entirely to the same RAM cost surge. Apple signed a $30 billion deal with Broadcom to secure chip supply, then raised MacBook Pro prices by $200 to $400 weeks later - a pattern now repeating across consumer hardware.
Pixel 11 Expected to Cost $100 More and Ship With Less RAM
Pre-launch leaks point to the entry-level Pixel 11 arriving about $100 above the Pixel 10's starting price. RAM drops from 16GB to 12GB. Google doubled base storage from 128GB to 256GB to soften that cut - a trade-off the company will need to sell at the August 12 reveal. A Pixel price increase of $100 lands at a moment when Google's Q2 2026 earnings showed hardware under pressure even as cloud and advertising grew strongly.
Google Is Engineering Android to Run on Less RAM
Barkat added that Google is "aggressively engineering" Android and the wider app ecosystem to reduce how much RAM the system requires for a smooth experience. No target memory floor or ship date was named. Announcing a price increase before revealing the actual numbers is an unusual move - it gives Google several days to shape the story before buyers see the final figures on August 12.
How far Google's engineering work goes is unclear. What Barkat called a "plan" to protect customers from the full brunt of the Pixel price increase stops short of specifics for now.
