Google basically confirms the Pixel 11 is getting a price hike
Google's head of devices all but confirms that the upcoming Pixel lineup will see higher prices driven by soaring global memory costs.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- Google strongly hints that the Pixel 11 will launch with a higher price tag
- The price adjustment is driven by ongoing RAM shortages and AI data center costs
- Base model Pixel 11 is expected to cost $899 with 256GB of storage
- Google is scheduled to officially announce the next Pixel generation on August 12th
It appears the ongoing global hardware cost pressures have finally caught up with Google's flagship smartphone lineup. The company has all but confirmed that the upcoming Pixel 11 will carry a higher price tag than its predecessor, the Pixel 10. This anticipated price hike serves as just the latest victim of the widespread RAM shortage crisis, often referred to in the industry as RAMageddon.
As the soaring cost of memory chips continues to ripple across the consumer electronics market, major players ranging from Apple and Nintendo to Microsoft and Roku have already adjusted their pricing models accordingly. Shakil Barkat, Google’s Vice President of Devices and Services, recently addressed these market realities in an interview with 9to5Google, pointing toward inevitable pricing adjustments for future hardware.
The current memory supply crunch is largely fueled by the massive expansion of artificial intelligence infrastructure. As tech giants aggressively build out AI data centers, high-performance RAM and memory components are heavily prioritized for enterprise hardware, severely squeezing the supply available for consumer devices like smartphones and driving up component costs worldwide.
"shielded our consumers from supply fluctuations for as long as possible... economics have fundamentally shifted and we’re not immune to that."
Barkat explained during the interview that Google had managed to shield its customers from supply chain fluctuations for as long as it possibly could. However, he noted that the underlying economics have fundamentally shifted and the company is simply not immune to those forces. He further indicated that upcoming Pixel pricing adjustments will be rolled out dynamically to match current supply realities.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
Industry leaks suggest that the base model Pixel 11 is expected to carry a price tag of $899, though it will compensate users by offering 256GB of internal storage instead of the previous 128GB baseline. Additional rumors also point to potential hardware adjustments, such as the Pixel 11 Pro moving from 16GB of RAM down to 12GB. Fortunately, tech enthusiasts will not have to wait long for official confirmation, as Google's next-generation device announcement is officially scheduled for August 12th.
Source: The Verge
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