The memory shortage hit Framework: the company changed the prices and configurations of laptops

The manufacturer of modular laptops Framework has informed customers about a forced review of the cost of some models and a change in their configurations. The reason was the situation on the components market: the supplier of RAM modules LPCAMM2 significantly increased prices, and the scale of the price increase turned out to be much higher than the company expected.

Framework said it expected a traditional increase in the cost of memory in the range of several tens of percent between the second and third quarters. However, after receiving the new price list, it turned out that the price of the modules has more than doubled compared to the previous batches. The company admitted that it is no longer possible to continue to compensate such a difference with its own funds without serious losses for the business.

Changes affected Framework Laptop 13 Pro

The new conditions most noticeably affected the Framework Laptop 13 Pro. Until recently, the manufacturer tried to maintain the former cost, independently covering part of the costs for components that have risen in price. Now this approach has been recognized as economically impractical.

As a result, the price of the base configuration with an Intel Core Ultra 5325 processor, 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD increased by $100 to $1,599.

At the same time, the problem is not only related to the increase in the cost of components. Framework reported that the amount of memory supply stopped meeting the initial plans. Despite having enough modules to fulfill all pre-orders, the company faced a shortage of individual LPCAMM2 configurations. Due to this, part of the orders required a review of the configuration, as the combination of modules with a volume of 16, 32 and 64 GB turned out to be unavailable in the required quantity.

Prices change not only for RAM

The market situation turned out to be ambiguous. If most LPCAMM2 modules have become more expensive, some memory options, on the contrary, have become cheaper. In particular, Framework managed to reduce the purchase price of 48 GB modules, thanks to which laptops with this configuration are now sold at a lower price. At the same time, 16-gigabyte modules have noticeably increased in cost, which automatically affected the price of younger versions of devices.

A similar picture is observed among storage devices. The manufacturer managed to achieve a price reduction for the SSD WD Black SN850X with a capacity of 8 TB and WD Blue SN7100 with a capacity of 1 TB. At the same time, the SN850X 1 TB and SN7100 4 TB models became more expensive, so the cost of laptops with such drives was also adjusted.

Memory market continues to impact PC manufacturers

The Framework story reflects a broader trend in the computer component market. In recent months, memory manufacturers have been cutting back on certain types of modules and reallocating capacity to more profitable areas, including solutions for servers and artificial intelligence systems. This is leading to shortages of some types of memory and marked price increases for notebook manufacturers.

Framework actually became one of the first companies to openly talk about the impact of these processes on the cost of end devices. The manufacturer does not rule out that with further fluctuations in component prices, the configuration and cost of laptops may change in the future.