AI-driven memory shortages disrupt consumer electronics from retro consoles to smartphones
By
Craig Grannell
Front-window bakery material. Catches the eye, delivers the goods.
Summary
The article discusses how the AI boom is causing shortages and price hikes in key components like RAM and NAND flash, affecting a wide range of consumer electronics from retro gaming handhelds to smartphones. The author uses the example of the Retroid Pocket 6 being discontinued mid-review due to memory market changes, and explores how AI's insatiable demand for memory and processing power is reshaping the tech industry, squeezing out smaller products and driving up costs for consumers.
Key quotes
· 5 pulledThe configuration I'd been sent (12GB RAM/256GB storage) was abruptly discontinued. Not because it was bad, but because of 'significant changes in the global memory market'.
AI is eating the world, and it's coming for your gadgets next.
The AI boom is causing a shortage of memory and storage components, driving up prices and forcing manufacturers to make difficult decisions.
It's not just retro consoles. The same forces are reshaping the smartphone market, the PC market, and virtually every corner of consumer electronics.
The era of cheap, abundant memory is over, at least for now. And that means the gadgets we love are going to change.
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