Google has effectively confirmed that the Pixel 11 series, due to be announced on August 12, will cost more. The reason is a memory market squeezed by AI demand, which the company's hardware division describes as a severe, supplier-driven RAM crisis. The revision will not be limited to the new Pixel 11 either. It is set to reach the entire Pixel family, including devices already on store shelves.
RAM now costs six times what it did
The foundation of this price increase is the cost of the parts themselves. Shakil Barkat, Vice President of Devices and Services, says the world has never seen memory prices rise the way they are rising now. The Morgan Stanley figures he pointed to show RAM going from 2.80 USD per GB in 2025 to 12 USD per GB in 2026, roughly a sixfold jump.
The reason supply has tightened is equally clear. Memory makers have redirected production capacity toward the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in AI data centers. HBM is expensive to produce in wafer terms, so every bit of it made means several bits of ordinary phone and PC memory that never get made. From a device maker's point of view, the supply simply is not there to buy.
The increase covers every Pixel
Google says it has absorbed component price swings internally for as long as it could rather than passing them to customers. What changed is the underlying economics, and the company concluded it cannot stay immune to that shift.
The adjustment is not confined to a single model. It applies across the Pixel family, including Pixel Watch as well as the Pixel 11 series, and it will be applied progressively as supply conditions dictate. Devices already on the market are not exempt. Google has not named specific models, but the Pixel 10a, still early in its life as the mid-range option, is expected to be affected. No date has been given for when current prices will change, so anyone considering a purchase would be wise to decide sooner rather than later.
Google has not abandoned the idea of keeping Pixel accessible, however. It says promotions, trade-in offers, and bundled perks such as Google One will continue, easing the burden somewhere other than the sticker price.
What August 12 will reveal
The Pixel 11 series will be formally announced on August 12. The specific size of the increase will not be disclosed until then.
Current leaks suggest the entry Pixel 11 Pro will drop from 16 GB of RAM to 12 GB. On price, the Pixel 11 and Pixel 11 Pro are expected to rise by around 100 USD, with storage doubling to 256 GB in exchange. The higher-end Pixel 11 Pro XL and Pixel 11 Pro Fold are said to face a straight 100 USD increase without a comparable revision. None of this is confirmed ahead of the announcement.
Less RAM at a higher price is a hard combination for buyers to accept. Given a market where the unit cost of memory has sextupled, though, holding both the capacity and the price steady was arguably never an option.
Cutting how much RAM Android needs
Alongside passing costs through, Google is working the problem from the engineering side. Barkat pointed to a dedicated effort to reduce memory requirements across Android and the app ecosystem, with the goal of keeping the experience intact on devices carrying less RAM. If it works, it structurally reduces how much device pricing is at the mercy of the memory market.
Google also credits its full-stack control of AI, software, and silicon with making on-device model execution more efficient. As on-device AI spreads, memory demands only grow, so whatever software can absorb translates directly into product competitiveness.
Summary
Google has confirmed that it will raise prices across the Pixel lineup, including the Pixel 11 series, citing memory costs driven up by AI data center demand. RAM has climbed from 2.80 USD to 12 USD per GB, roughly six times, and devices already on sale will also be repriced. The specific numbers are due at the August 12 announcement, which also makes the timing of any current-model purchase worth thinking about.
