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 supply. Dell and Lenovo have already said they will increase their prices this month and next. The price increases will be between 15% and 20% for PCs and servers because of new contracts for components. Even Raspberry Pi has temporarily increased its pricing.
Industry analysis suggests that relief is unlikely before late 2026, at the earliest. Memory makers are increasingly focusing on high-bandwidth memory and AI products. As a result, there is less supply of common DRAM types like DDR4, DDR5, and LPDDR.
If and when Framework’s own inventory runs low, the company will have little choice but to raise prices further or limit availability, just like its bigger competitors.