📰 New article from Retro Handhelds
The Fix is In? New Class Action Lawsuit Claims RAM Supply Was Intentionally Restricted to Raise Prices
Remember that sinking feeling when you see your favorite tech product jump in price? You’re not imagining things, and you might have a lawsuit to thank for it. A new class action suit filed in California alleges that the “Big Three” of RAM manufacturing—Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron—colluded to artificially restrict supply. The result? A staggering 700% price hike over the last four years.
The plaintiffs claim these companies intentionally cut production of standard DRAM while pivoting resources toward high-bandwidth memory. By locking up conventional supply, they forced the entire industry to raise prices just to stay afloat. It’s not just about your next PC upgrade; this “RAMageddon” is the hidden tax behind everything from console price hikes at Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo to the astronomical costs of new handhelds like the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+.
Even Apple isn’t immune, with recent price bumps across its lineup, including the MacBook Neo and the humble HomePod Mini. While the AI boom certainly drove demand, this lawsuit suggests a darker narrative: a coordinated “long game” designed to target consumers in the 2025–2026 window. Whether this legal challenge can break the oligopoly remains to be seen, but for now, we’re all stuck paying the premium.