Google just said the quiet part out loud: Pixels are getting more expensive. In an interview with 9to5Google published July 24, Shakil Barkat — Google's VP of Devices and Services — confirmed price "adjustments" across the entire Pixel lineup, rolled out "dynamically to match supply realities." Hard numbers arrive with the phones themselves on August 12.
Blame the RAM
The culprit isn't tariffs or ambition. It's memory. "There's never been an increase in memory prices like the world's going through right now," Barkat said, and the Morgan Stanley figure he cited backs him up: a gigabyte of RAM cost $2.80 in 2025. This year it's $12. That's a sixfold jump on a component every phone needs a lot of.
Google's framing is that it held the line as long as it could — the company says it "shielded our consumers from supply fluctuations for as long as possible" on hardware already in stores. But per Barkat, "the economics have fundamentally shifted and we're not immune to that." Translation: the subsidy era is over.
What it'll actually cost you
Google wouldn't say, but the leaks in the report fill in the picture. The Pixel 11 and 11 Pro are expected to start $100 higher, softened a little by base storage doubling to 256 GB. The Pro XL and Pro Fold? Reportedly a flat $100 more, no sweetener. And here's the telling detail: the entry Pixel 11 Pro is said to drop from 16 GB of RAM to 12 GB. When a flagship loses memory year over year, you know the component bill is doing the talking.
It doesn't stop with the new phones, either. Google says "in-market Pixel phones" will be hit too — which almost certainly means the Pixel 10a, a mid-ranger that isn't even halfway through its life. No date was given for when current prices climb, and 9to5Google's advice was blunt: if you were going to buy a Pixel anyway, buy it sooner rather than later. The Pixel Watch is part of the same affected portfolio.
One consolation: deals aren't going anywhere. Barkat called promotions, trade-ins, and Google One bundles "a central part of how we make the Pixel lineup accessible." Expect the sticker to rise and the discounts to do more of the work.
The clever bit: needing less RAM
The most interesting thing Barkat said wasn't about pricing at all. Google is running what he called a "dedicated effort" to cut memory requirements across Android and its app ecosystem — the stated goal is letting devices ship with less RAM "while maintaining a great user experience." The company also leans on its full-stack setup — its own AI models, software, and silicon — to run on-device AI efficiently on leaner hardware.
That's a real strategy change. Android flagships have spent years stuffing in more memory, largely to feed AI features. If RAM stays at $12 a gigabyte, the advantage flips to whoever can do the most with the least of it.
The bottom line
Phone prices have been weirdly stable for years because manufacturers quietly ate component swings to protect familiar price points. Google walking away from that — publicly, before its own launch event — says the memory crunch isn't a blip. It's the new baseline. August 12 puts numbers on it. Until then, today's Pixel prices are probably the cheapest you'll see them.
Image: ubeyonroad, via Pexels
