Buying affordable PC hardware is becoming more complicated, and with 2026 approaching, The outlook is not exactly encouraging for European usersManufacturers have been warning for months that memory prices have increased significantly, and now ASUS is confirming what many already assumed.
The Taiwanese company has officially informed its partners and customers that The increased costs will be reflected in the final price of part of its catalog starting January 5, 2026.This is not a rumor or a leak: it is a direct warning that comes just before CES, when many of the new laptops, desktops and gaming equipment that will arrive in Spain and the rest of Europe are presented.
ASUS will raise prices from January 5th: what exactly has it announced
In a letter addressed to distributors and professional customers, ASUS confirms it will introduce “strategic price adjustments” in certain product ranges starting January 5, 2026The company explains that it has been absorbing the increased cost of key components for months, but that the situation has reached a point where maintaining current prices is no longer viable.
The statement insists that the change aims to to guarantee supply stability, maintain quality standards and sustain service levelsIn other words, ASUS prefers to raise prices rather than cut quality or risk not being able to fulfill all orders, something especially sensitive in the professional and educational segments within the European Union.
Although the company avoids publishing a closed list of models, it makes it clear that The focus of the adjustment will be on “certain combinations of products” that comprise memory and storageThe internal message is quite transparent: anything that comes with DRAM or NAND/SSD from the factory is likely to become more expensive.
ASUS also acknowledges that these changes may disrupt the planning of many of its business partners, therefore Their sales teams will contact distributors and wholesalers directly. to explain the details of the adjustments and help them reconfigure orders and ranges to mitigate the impact.
The blame (almost) lies with the DRAM memory and the NAND/SSD storage
The trigger for this increase is very clear: DRAM memory And NAND/SSD storage chips have been rising in price for months due to an explosive combination of high demand and limited capacity.The expansion of computing with artificial intelligence has changed the priorities of large memory manufacturers, who are increasingly directing production towards higher margin lines.
A large portion of the wafers that were previously used for consumer RAM and SSD modules They are now used to manufacture high-performance memory designed for data centers and AI infrastructures. In parallel, capacity has been redirected to the production of HBM, the ultra-high bandwidth memory which accompanies the AI GPUs from NVIDIA and other vendors, much more cost-effective than conventional DRAM.
This shift in priorities has left the consumer market and the traditional PC with a smaller supply and rising pricesCompanies like Crucial have already effectively abandoned the end-user memory segment to focus on servers and AI workloads, a move that clearly illustrates the magnitude of the shift the industry is experiencing.
In addition, some manufacturers, such as Samsung, They have converted NAND memory lines to DRAM attempting to partially alleviate the RAM shortage. The result is a delicate balance: slightly more DRAM is produced, but at the cost of reduce NAND volumeThis also puts pressure on the price of SSDs and other storage products.
Analysts who closely follow the market, such as TrendForce, anticipate that DRAM prices will not stabilize until the end of 2026And stabilizing, they warn, doesn't mean returning to mid-2025 levels, but rather ceasing such aggressive price increases. Everything points to 2026 being an expensive year for anyone considering upgrading memory or replacing a PC.
Which ASUS products will be most affected by the price increase?
ASUS hasn't named the specific models that will be priced higher, but it has provided enough clues to give an idea of where the price increase will be concentrated. The company mentions pre-assembled computers, laptops, gaming devices, and systems that integrate RAM and SSD as standardTranslated into something more user-friendly:
- Consumer and professional laptopsFrom basic office and study equipment to high-end ultrabooks and business-oriented laptops.
- Desktop computers and pre-built PCs, including those intended for gaming and content creation.
- Mini PCs and compact systems, very popular in offices, educational settings and classrooms.
- ROG Ally family handheld consoles and other portable gaming devices that rely on built-in memory and storage.
- Graphics cards and gaming products They could follow the same trend, especially if the pressure on the DRAM and HBM used in NVIDIA and AMD GPUs continues.
Instead, products that do not directly depend on DRAM or NANDComponents such as monitors, cases, power supplies, and certain peripherals shouldn't experience significant price increases beyond the usual adjustments for inflation or logistical costs. Even so, the overall context suggests some strain across the entire hardware supply chain.
Behind the scenes, the company is also reportedly considering increase the production of motherboards with support for DDR4 memoryEspecially models compatible with AMD's AM4 socket, still very common in Spain and the rest of Europe. The idea is to offer more affordable alternatives to the rising cost of DDR5, allowing many users to upgrade their processor without changing the entire platform.
Impact in Spain and Europe: what users can expect
ASUS's price adjustment is global, but This directly affects markets like Spain, where mid-range PCs and multipurpose laptops are the main players.For many households and small businesses, the change may mean taking on a significant additional cost if they had planned to equip themselves at the beginning of the year.
The fact that the increase comes into effect on January 5, 2026, just one day before the start of CESThis has a clear interpretation: the new laptops, desktops, and devices that the brand will present at the tech fair will already have revised upwards in price. For those waiting for the 2026 releases hoping to find bargains, the outlook is less favorable.
In the business arena, ASUS admits that Organizations will see their IT investment planning affected.That's why it's strengthening direct contact with corporate accounts and partners, aiming to design configurations that balance performance and cost. Platforms that allow memory reuse or leveraging existing components are gaining importance here, something especially relevant with the rise of DDR4 on AM4 motherboards.
For the average home user in Spain, the practical message is quite clear: Buying an ASUS PC, laptop, or portable console with more memory and storage will cost moreIn a context where budget is the deciding factor, we will probably see greater interest in configurations with less RAM or SSD capacity to start with, with the idea of upgrading later if prices allow.
Online sales channels and large European specialist chains already take it for granted that The first half of 2026 will be challenging for achieving attractive prices., with less room for large discounts and aggressive offers on equipment that integrates a lot of memory.
This is a problem across the entire PC industry, not just for ASUS.
Although ASUS is now stepping forward with an official letter, Price pressures in memory and storage affect all major hardware manufacturersOther players in the sector have already hinted at increases, although without specifying dates or percentages with the same clarity.
The rise of AI has driven up demand for servers, computing GPUs, high-performance memory, and large storage volumesChip manufacturers have reacted by prioritizing the highest margin segments, namely data centers and public clouds, leaving the home market and traditional PCs in the background.
This reallocation of production capacity is generating structural changes throughout the supply chainNew investments in advanced manufacturing processes, lines refocused on premium products, and a shortage of skilled labor at certain points in the supply chain. The result is a higher average production cost, which is ultimately reflected in the retail price.
In practice, Consumers and businesses end up footing part of the bill for the artificial intelligence boomIt was first noticed in high-performance DDR5 RAM modules and SSDs, and now it is starting to strongly influence the final price of laptops, pre-built PCs, and gaming equipment that integrate these technologies.
ASUS itself admits the impact of these changes This is already being reflected in systems planning and overall cost structures.And he presents it as a fundamental trend in the industry, not as a temporary setback that will be resolved in a couple of months.
How is ASUS reacting, and what options are available to the user?
From within the company, it is insisted that the objective of these adjustments is Maintain brand reliability and avoid supply problemsTo achieve this, ASUS aims to leverage its global manufacturing and logistics network, striving to ensure that, despite the increased cost of memory, delivery times and quality are not compromised.
One of the lines of action that is gaining strength is opt for somewhat more conservative but more accessible configurations and platformsSuch as motherboards with DDR4 and established sockets, which allow you to upgrade your CPU or GPU while keeping some of your existing hardware. This is a way to keep the overall cost of the upgrade down, which is very appealing to advanced users who build their own PCs.
For the end user, the price increase will be most noticeable on closed systems, where It's not possible to play around too much with the component list And the manufacturer decides the RAM and storage combination beforehand. In laptops, mini PCs, and handheld consoles, the ability to adjust the budget relies more on foregoing certain specifications than on changing components.
ASUS assures that will try to minimize the direct impact on price whenever possibleBut it also makes clear that these adjustments are “a necessary response” to cost pressures it considers unavoidable. For those thinking of buying, it might be time to consider bringing the purchase forward. check lower ranges or be more attentive than ever to specific promotions.
With all this context on the table, what is emerging for the Spanish and European market is a start to 2026 in which Memory will continue to dictate the pace of hardware, and ASUS will be no exception.The price increases in their laptops, PCs, mini PCs, and gaming devices are a direct result of a market where DRAM and NAND have gone from being relatively affordable components to becoming the bottleneck that determines the cost of almost any modern computer.
