Google has officially confirmed that prices across its Pixel lineup, including the upcoming Pixel 11 series, are set to rise, pointing directly to the ongoing global RAM shortage as the reason.
The confirmation came from Shakil Barkat, Google's Vice President of Devices and Services, in comments shared with 9to5Google ahead of the Pixel 11 launch on August 12, 2026.
"There's Never Been an Increase in Memory Prices like This"
Barkat didn't mince words about the scale of the problem, noting that "there’s never been an increase in memory prices like the world’s going through right now."
He cited data from a Morgan Stanley report, stating that the cost of 1 GB of RAM has jumped roughly sixfold. To be specific, it has gone from being around $2.8 (approximately Rs 270) in 2025 to about $12 (approximately Rs 1,200) today.
According to Barkat, Google has been absorbing much of that rising cost internally so far, shielding buyers from it wherever possible on hardware already on the market.
But with memory prices climbing this sharply, he said, that's no longer sustainable, since "the economics have fundamentally shifted" and Google isn't immune to it either.
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Price Changes Coming Across the Pixel Lineup
More notably, Barkat indicated this won't be limited to upcoming Google Pixel phones, like the Pixel 11 series. Phones already sitting on shelves are expected to see a price hike too, which likely includes the Pixel 10a, still fairly new as Google's mid-range option.
Google hasn't said when these price increments will kick in, though it's a reasonable nudge for anyone eyeing a current-gen Pixel to not wait too long. Despite the increases, Google maintains that keeping its lineup competitively priced "at every tier" remains a priority.
Moreover, the brand states that buyers can still expect trade-in deals, promotional pricing, and perks like bundled Google One subscriptions to soften the blow.
Alongside the pricing news, Barkat talked about an internal push to make Android and its app ecosystem less memory-hungry. In other words, this is to let its phones run smoothly on less RAM without sacrificing the user experience.
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What This Could Mean for the Pixel 11
Now, while Google hasn't confirmed specifics, an earlier Pixel 11 Amazon listing leak hinted at what the price increase might look like in practice. The base Pixel 11 Pro could ship with 12 GB of RAM instead of 16 GB.
Meanwhile, both the Pixel 11 and Pixel 11 Pro could see prices increase by around $100 (approximately Rs 10,000), though the hike may be softened by a bump to 256 GB of base storage. This is similar to how the base iPhone 17 moved to 256 GB of storage last year and did away with 128 GB entirely.
The larger Google Pixel 11 Pro XL and Pixel 11 Pro Fold, on the other hand, are rumoured to see a straightforward $100 increase with no such trade-offs.
Do note that Google hasn't officially confirmed these leaks and exact pricing will only be clear once the Pixel 11 series is formally unveiled on August 12.
The thing is, it is not surprising to see even tech giants like Google or Apple raise the prices of their phones. Apple had already confirmed that iPhone price hikes are incoming and so it was only about time that the Alphabet-owned brand hopped on the unfortunate trend. We can only hope that it doesn't make Pixel phones all too inaccessible for fans of the series.
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