Google confirms Pixel 11 price hike from RAM crisis
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- Shakil Barkat, Google's VP of Devices and Services, told 9to5Google that the Pixel 11 will cost more than the Pixel 10, saying Google had "shielded our consumers from supply fluctuations for as long as possible" but "the economics have fundamentally shifted and we're not immune to that."
- The base Pixel 11 is expected to cost $899 with 256GB of storage, doubling the Pixel 10's 128GB base configuration.
- The Pixel 11 Pro is rumored to drop from 16GB to 12GB of RAM as Google absorbs memory cost pressures.
- The price hike is driven by RAM supply shortages that the article attributes to the explosion of AI data centers, which has tightened memory supply industry-wide.
- Apple, Nintendo, Microsoft, and Roku have all raised prices in response to the same soaring memory costs, framing the Pixel move as part of a broader industry trend.
- Google is scheduled to officially announce the next generation of Pixel devices on August 12th.
Why it matters: The base Pixel 11 at $899 still costs more than the Pixel 10 was rumored to charge, even though buyers get double the storage (256GB vs 128GB), while the Pro model reportedly drops to 12GB of RAM from 16GB — meaning consumers pay more for hardware that in one key spec is actually a downgrade. With Apple, Nintendo, Microsoft, and Roku all raising prices, the RAM supply crunch has become a cross-industry tax hitting buyers at the register.
