Samsung warns: the RAM crisis hasn't hit bottom and prices will keep rising

The RAM crisis that has defined all of 2026 hasn't had its final say yet. As reported by IGN Spain, the latest financial report from Samsung, one of the largest memory manufacturers on the planet, carries a message nobody in the gaming world wanted to hear: the situation won't improve in the short term and, in fact, looks set to get worse. Memory prices will keep climbing, and that drags along everything with a RAM chip inside it.

Why does this matter so much to us at Underworld Lordz? Because this isn't some abstract crisis in the semiconductor industry. It's the reason the PlayStation 5 has gone up in price, the reason Valve's Steam Machine is arriving more expensive than many expected, and the reason building or upgrading a competitive PC has become an extreme sport for your wallet. When the manufacturer that sets a large part of the market says more storms are coming, it's time to get ready.

What you need to know

• Samsung has published its latest financial report and, according to IGN Spain, its figures and its reading of the market give cause for concern.
• The RAM shortage has gone unresolved for all of 2026, and the forecast that emerges from the report is that prices will keep rising.
• The impact is already visible in specific products: the PlayStation 5 and the Steam Machine are two of the examples cited by the source.
• There is no relief date: the news offers no horizon for a return to normal, and that absence is itself telling.

What's happening with memory

RAM is one of those components we take for granted until it runs short. It's in consoles, in graphics cards, in laptops, in the servers that host online games and in the phones you watch streams on. When supply doesn't cover demand, the price goes up for everyone at once, and hardware manufacturers have two options: eat the margin or pass the bill on to the consumer. What we've seen in 2026, with the PS5 price hikes and the Steam Machine's launch price, makes it clear which of the two they've chosen.

Samsung's report matters precisely because of who signed it. We're talking about a player with enough weight for its reading of the market to serve as a thermometer for the entire industry. If word from the inside is that the shortage continues and the pressure on prices isn't easing, console and PC manufacturers read that as a signal not to lower prices, and even to keep adjusting them upward.

Who it really affects

Everyone, but not everyone equally. Those who already have their rig built can ride out the wave. Those waiting to jump to the new generation, swap out their graphics card or buy their first Steam Machine are finding that waiting no longer guarantees a better price, but possibly a worse one. And communities in Latin America, where hardware already arrives marked up due to taxes and logistics, suffer a double penalty: the increase at the source plus the local surcharge.

Our take

Here at the Underworld Lordz newsroom we see this warning from Samsung as confirmation of something competitive players have been feeling all year: hardware has become a barrier to entry. For a Spanish-speaking team with people in the Americas and Europe, the difference between being able to practice on a decent setup or not increasingly comes down to your postal code and the exchange rate. The fact that a basic component like RAM sets the price pace for the entire video game industry says a lot about how fragile the supply chain our hobby and our profession depend on really is.

We're also not entirely sold on the victim narrative that sometimes accompanies these price hikes. Console and memory manufacturers aren't charities, and a supply crisis is also an opportunity to protect margins. We don't have the data to accuse anyone of taking advantage, but we do have enough to demand transparency: if RAM is the reason a PS5 or a Steam Machine costs more, we want those increases rolled back just as quickly when the market returns to normal. Experience says that almost never happens.

For content creators, the advice is pragmatic: don't upgrade just for the sake of upgrading. If your current setup lets you compete and stream with quality, hold on to it. If you absolutely have to buy, do it with a clear head and keep an eye on the second-hand market, where the price crisis still hasn't completely wiped out the bargains. And if you're one of those who see the Steam Machine as the gateway into PC gaming, be aware that the price you see today may not be the worst you'll see.

What do you think?

The RAM crisis is no longer an economics story, it's something every player feels at checkout. Have you put off a hardware purchase this year because of prices, or do you think now is the time to buy before they climb even higher? Tell us in the team chat or on our Discord.