Framework Warns of Memory Price Increase Amid Supply Chaos

Framework has publicly committed to raising memory prices soon, but if Monday's X post is to be believed, it will avoid the aggressive markups that have become standard at Dell and Apple.

In response to a since-deleted X post about Dell charging an extra $550 to upgrade a Dell XPS 13 from 16GB to 32GB of LPDDR5X memory, the maker of modular laptops noted that a similar upgrade via Framework would cost a mere $80. But a price increase is coming soon, the brand said.

Apple charges $400 for a 32GB upgrade to the MacBook Air M4. This might seem reasonable compared to Dell's lofty price, but Framework—which admittedly does require users to have a bit of DIY know-how—offers the same memory upgrade for far less.

The global DRAM market has tightened considerably as AI data center demand and shifts in manufacturing priorities have sucked up ...