The South Korean firm - the world’s largest maker of memory chips - has reportedly admitted tight supply and soaring demand are driving costs higher for DRAM and other components that underpin modern electronics.

While Samsung supplies memory to rivals, Bloomberg has claimed the company has also acknowledged that its own products may not be immune to price pressure as shortages worsen.

The crunch is supposedly being fuelled largely by the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure.

Data centre operators are buying vast quantities of high-performance memory to support AI training and inference, leaving smartphone and PC makers competing for a shrinking pool of supply.

Industry data suggests mobile DRAM prices have risen around 16 per cent since early 2025, while overall DRAM costs are up more than 170 per cent year-on-year.

Those pressures are now spilling into consumer hardware, as reports from South Korea suggest Samsung is considering price increases of between $30 and $60 for its upcoming Galaxy S26 lineup - marking the first potential price rise for the Galaxy S series in three years.

The increases would reflect higher component costs rather than major hardware changes, as Samsung looks to preserve margins amid inflationary pressure.

However, the strategy may vary by market, as analysts have said Samsung could keep U.S. pricing flat to remain competitive with Apple’s iPhone.

Samsung would then supposedly pass on higher costs in South Korea and other regions - a tactic the company has used before.

One local report noted Samsung is “considering setting the release prices in major countries, such as the U.S., the same as the previous model to promote global sales”.