Google Confirms Pixel 11 Price Rise as RAM Costs Surge

Google confirms a wider Pixel price adjustment

Google has confirmed that prices will rise across its Pixel family, including the forthcoming Pixel 11 series, after an exceptional jump in the cost of the RAM used in smartphones. The company’s Made by Google hardware division outlined the change in an exclusive interview with 9to5Google published on 24 July.

Shakil Barkat, Google’s Vice President of Devices and Services, described a “severe, supplier-driven RAM memory crisis” and said the company could no longer absorb the changing costs. “There’s never been an increase in memory prices like the world’s going through right now,” Barkat told 9to5Google.

Google has not confirmed individual Pixel 11 prices or said precisely when revisions for current models will take effect. But Barkat said the company would make pricing “adjustments” across the Pixel family, doing so “dynamically to match supply realities”. That wording matters: the changes are not confined to an annual flagship launch and may affect Pixel handsets already on sale.

As previously reported, Google will unveil the Pixel 11 range at its Made by Google event in New York on 12 August. That event is now expected to settle the question of exactly how much UK buyers will pay.

Why phone memory has become so expensive

According to figures cited by Barkat from Morgan Stanley analyst Shawn Kim, the price of one gigabyte of LPDDR5X mobile RAM has risen from $2.80 in 2025 to $12 in 2026. For a flagship handset carrying 16GB of memory, that equates to a rise in the memory portion of the bill of materials from roughly $45 to about $192 per unit, before accounting for the processor, screen or cameras.

TrendForce has separately estimated that contract prices for LPDDR4X and LPDDR5X mobile memory climbed by around 90% quarter on quarter during the first quarter of 2026.

The problem is not simply that more people want new phones. Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron collectively supply more than 95% of global DRAM, and they have shifted manufacturing capacity away from low-power memory used in handsets towards High-Bandwidth Memory, or HBM. HBM is used in AI accelerators such as Nvidia GPUs and commands markedly higher revenue per wafer than conventional DRAM.

Market analysis cited in the briefing puts an HBM3E module at roughly $60 to $100, compared with $5 to $10 for an equivalent amount of conventional DRAM. IDC described the shift in a February market analysis as a potentially permanent strategic reallocation of silicon wafer capacity, rather than a short-lived cyclical imbalance.

“We had shielded our consumers from supply fluctuations for as long as possible, but the economics have fundamentally shifted and we’re not immune to that.”

What UK Pixel 11 pricing could look like

The clearest UK indication remains unconfirmed. Leaker billbil-kun, writing via Dealabs, has suggested the standard Pixel 11 will start at £879, an £80 increase on the Pixel 10’s £799 launch price. The same leak puts the entry-level Pixel 11 at €999 in the Eurozone and says the Pixel 11 Pro Fold could reach £2,149 with 1TB of storage.

Other reports have suggested a £100 rise and a £899 Pixel 11 starting price, creating a discrepancy Google will need to resolve on 12 August. The £80 figure appears to be the more specific UK leak, but neither figure is official and buyers should treat both as provisional.

There may be some offset at the lower end of the range. Leaked retail information indicates that the base Pixel 11 and Pixel 11 Pro could move from 128GB to 256GB of entry-level storage, even as their starting prices rise. Separately, deleted listings reportedly found on Google’s official Amazon storefront in the US showed all four Pixel 11 models with 256GB of storage, though those listings do not establish UK pricing.

A further rumour claims the Pixel 11 Pro may carry 12GB of RAM rather than the 16GB used by its predecessor. Google has not confirmed that specification. Barkat did say Google engineers are making a dedicated effort to improve Android’s memory efficiency, with the aim of handling demanding on-device Gemini AI tasks without continually requiring larger and more expensive memory pools.

Existing Pixel buyers may not be insulated

Google’s comments go beyond the incoming flagships. Barkat referred specifically to “in-market Pixel phones”, raising the prospect that current models could receive price revisions. The Pixel 10a, released earlier this year and currently priced at £499, is among the devices that could be affected, although Google did not name it directly or give a timetable.

For ordinary buyers, that creates an unusual double squeeze. A new Pixel 11 may cost more at launch, while the normal expectation that older models become steadily cheaper is less certain if component pressure reaches existing stock. Anyone considering a current Pixel should therefore watch retailer pricing closely rather than assuming a later purchase will automatically be cheaper.

Google says it remains committed to delivering premium experiences at accessible value, and Barkat said promotions, trade-in offers and bundled benefits such as Google One will remain central to making Pixel phones accessible. Yet those offers will be working against an industry-wide cost shift. IDC predicts global smartphone shipments will fall 12.9% in 2026 because of RAM supply constraints, while the shortage is forecast to persist until at least 2027.

Google is expected to announce the Pixel 11 line on 11 or 12 August, with pre-orders opening the same day and shop availability apparently following on 20 August. Until then, the confirmed part of the story is straightforward: the cost of memory has become too great for Google to keep Pixel pricing unchanged.