And Framework made another right call just recently, specifically for its flagship Framework 13 Pro laptop, which uses the very neat and tremendously expensive LPCAMM2 standard for its replaceable memory. Previously it had to downgrade some customers’ orders from 64GB of RAM to 32GB, because it couldn’t get the supplies to fulfill them at the original prices. If companies like Dell and Lenovo are struggling to find affordable RAM while data centers gobble up all the production capacity, then a small manufacturer like Framework that has to buy its components near the end of the supply chain is basically bleeding money.
But even in 2026, there are occasional miracles. A few days ago Framework revealed that it’s managed to find a “limited quantity of Micron 32GB and 64GB LPCAMM2 memory modules at [a] lower cost.” As a result, not only is it lowering prices for those customers who’ve pre-ordered the Framework 13 Pro, it’s issuing refunds for those who’ve already bought one and had their laptops shipped.
Mark Hachman / Foundry
Can you imagine? Buying a laptop at a bad price, then getting an email from the manufacturer that just says it’s giving you some money back? In current year?
Contrast this behavior with a much higher-profile company that had an unexpected windfall: Nintendo. The famous gaming brand has a certified hit on its hands with the Switch 2, but it’s not immune to the memory market, recently raising prices on the current console by $50. And that’s after raising prices on various versions of the original Switch — now over a decade old — back in 2025. That original hike was due to the Trump administration’s tariffs and taxes, which have since been declared illegal.
Nintendo and others got a nice refund from the US federal government. So, has it lowered the prices on its older hardware? Has it rolled back the $50 price hike for the Switch 2? Has it issued refunds directly to its customers, as they’ve asked?
Nintendo
Nope. It’s having a “customer appreciation sale” in the US, which offers a 30 percent discount on “dozens of Nintendo Switch digital games and bundles…select physical games, downloadable content, and apparel.” Nintendo specifically called out tariff-related refunds as the reason for this sale. Notably absent from that list are the game consoles whose prices have actually been affected by Trump’s illegal taxes and the RAM crunch.