‘Chipflation’: Electronics see years of price hikes replicated in 6 months
The rapid rise in prices for consumer electronics in 2026 is attributed to an acute shortage of memory chips, a phenomenon dubbed "chipflation" by analysts. This situation has resulted in a price hike of several years occurring within just six months. Pricing data from July of 2026 indicates a price increase of 3-5% compared to January, which is significantly higher than the 0.7% increase observed between January and July 2025.
The impact is particularly noticeable in the prices of mobile handsets, air conditioners, TVs, fridges, washing machines, and computers and laptops, where the price increase is up to 46, 4.8%, 3.5%, 45%, 32%, and 31% respectively compared to the same period in 2025. The severity of the price increases in 2026 is 31 to 46 times greater than the corresponding period in 2025.
This surge in prices is driven by the increasing demand for memory chips in the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, leading to production challenges for DRAM and other essential chips used in consumer electronics.
Written by urgent.news from The Indian Express's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
