You can blame AI for yet another price hike in the tech industry. Google (GOOG, GOOGL) on Wednesday revealed its Pixel 11 family of smartphones, a collection that includes the company's latest foldable phone, the Pixel 11 Pro Fold.
But each phone also gets a $100 price increase versus its predecessor.
The Pixel 11 and 11 Pro, however, have twice the starting storage as the Pixel 10 and 10 Pro. But the Pixel 11 Pro and Pro XL also have less starting memory than the 10 Pro and 10 Pro XL. Google says that you'll still see strong performance out of its devices.
"Through software and silicon optimization, you can expect faster and smoother performance from this year's Pro models when compared to last year's comparable 256GB SSD SKUs," a Google spokesperson told Yahoo Finance.
As for the Fold, the company attributes the $100 increase to the fact that it's Google's most advanced foldable yet.
Google is just the latest consumer tech company to raise the price of its products. Apple (AAPL) has raised prices on its iPads and Macs and is widely expected to increase the cost of its upcoming iPhone 18 line. The rumored foldable iPhone is said to launch with a $2,000 price tag.
Samsung (005930.KS) has also raised prices on its phones, foldable and otherwise, as well as its tablets, due to the memory shortage.
Microsoft (MSFT) has similarly raised the starting price on its Surface laptops and tablets by as much as $500. In fact, most laptop makers are charging more to account for memory and storage costs.
And if you're in the market for a gaming console, you'd better be prepared to pony up, because Microsoft, Nintendo (NTDOY), and Sony (SONY) have each raised prices on their systems.
The takeaway? If you were hoping to avoid having to pay more for your favorite tech because of the AI boom, you're increasingly running out of luck.
Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@yahoofinance.com. Follow him on X at @DanielHowley.
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