Maingear has launched a BYO RAM Builds program. The approach lets customers buy a desktop PC without bundled memory. Instead, buyers supply their own DDR5 kits. Maingear installs, validates, and tunes ...

Memory used to be the easy part of a PC or phone upgrade, the line item you barely noticed on the receipt. That era is over.

On the same day our staff imagined this as a possible trend for 2026, Maingear comes right out and proves that we’re not crazy. But also, this is crazy.

As the generative AI rush gobbles up memory production, phone-makers will likely have to raise prices, reduce RAM specs or both.