Dell’s memory upgrade now costs more than Apple’s
Framework has called out Dell over memory upgrade pricing after users noticed that the Dell XPS 13 charges 550 USD to move from 16 GB to 32 GB of LPDDR5X RAM. That price hike is even higher than Apple’s 400 USD fee for a 32 GB configuration on the MacBook Air 13 with the M4 chip, a brand already known for expensive memory and storage upgrades.
In its response on X, Framework pointed out that the same jump from 16 GB to 32 GB on its own laptops costs 80 USD for DDR5-5600 memory. The company added that it will have to raise memory prices soon, but said it will not use the ongoing RAM crunch as a reason to match Dell or Apple style upgrade markups.
Source: Framework
According to analysts, server DRAM contract prices have increased by as much as 40 to 50% in recent quarters, and mainstream DRAM has increased by more than 170% year over year. This dispute occurs during a sharp spike in DRAM prices that is being driven by demand from AI data centers. Memory makers are shifting more capacity to high margin AI parts such as HBM and DDR5 for servers, which leaves fewer chips for consumer hardware and pushes up prices for laptop and desktop kits.
Framework accepts that once its current inventory runs out, it will also have to play by the market’s rules and pass some of the cost on to buyers. The company still questions why a 32 GB upgrade on a thin-and-light laptop should cost 400 to 550 USD, even in a tight market, when it can currently offer the same capacity step for 80 USD. For anyone considering a Framework system with 32 GB of RAM, this may be the right moment to order before those prices move up.
Perhaps one should start by saying that Framework laptops are really ‘cheap’, I doubt that memory price is the biggest concern for potential Framework users.
Source via NotebookCheck :
We are going to need to increase our memory pricing soon, but we won’t use this as an excuse to gouge customers like @Dell apparently has and that @Apple does as their norm.
— Framework (@FrameworkPuter) December 9, 2025
