Redmond, Washington, April 15, 2026, 04:03 PDT
Microsoft has raised U.S. prices across its Surface PC lineup, pushing its lowest-priced new models above $1,000 and taking the 13-inch Surface Pro and 13.8-inch Surface Laptop to $1,499. On the Microsoft Store, the 12-inch Surface Pro now starts at $1,049 and the 13-inch Surface Laptop at $1,149, while the 15-inch Surface Laptop is listed at $1,599.
The move matters because it lands in the middle of a memory-chip squeeze that has spread from AI data centers into consumer PCs. Dell and HP have already taken price actions or warned on similar pressures as higher component bills squeeze vendors trying to hold margins in premium Windows hardware.
Microsoft said the move was driven by costs. “Due to recent increases in memory and component costs, Surface is updating pricing on Microsoft.com for its current-generation hardware portfolio,” a company spokesperson told Windows Central. Windows Central
Part of the shock comes from how new some of the affected devices are. When Microsoft unveiled the 12-inch Surface Pro and 13-inch Surface Laptop in May 2025, it said they would start at $799 and $899. For the older 13-inch Surface Pro and 13.8-inch Surface Laptop, The Verge noted Microsoft had already stopped selling the original $999 versions last year, shifting buyers to $1,199 models with more storage before this latest step to $1,499.
That leaves Microsoft in a harder spot against Apple, its clearest premium rival in U.S. consumer laptops. Apple’s MacBook Neo starts at $599, and the 13-inch MacBook Air with M5 starts at $1,099, leaving Microsoft’s least expensive Surface Laptop above the Air on entry price alone.
Ranjit Atwal, a senior director analyst at Gartner, called the memory shock “the steepest contraction in device shipments witnessed in over a decade.” He warned vendors had a narrow first-half window to protect margins before component inflation bit harder. Gartner
Others see little quick relief. Emarketer analyst Jacob Bourne told Reuters that, given the scale of the shortage, it would show up as “higher prices for consumers,” while Samsung memory executive Kim Jaejune said in January that a broad shortage of memory products was likely to continue “for the time being.” Reuters
There is still one swing factor. TrendForce said on April 8 that spot prices for DRAM, the main memory chips used in PCs, were edging lower as some traders sold inventory, although sellers were still pushing for higher second-quarter contract prices, suggesting retail relief may take time.
