Intel Gaming CPUs to See 10% Price Hike in Q4 2025

Intel is reportedly set to increase prices on its Raptor Lake desktop CPUs (13th and 14th generations of Intel Core processors) by more than 10% in the fourth quarter of 2025. The reason for this decision is the commercial underperformance of AI PCs with 15th Gen CPUs.

Intel is preparing to raise prices of its older 13th and 14th Gen Raptor Lake chips by more than 10% in Q4 2025, according to a DigiTimes report. While exact SKUs were not specified, the report notes that chips selling for $150-$160 will get a new price tag of $170-$180. Intel hasn’t issued any comments or announcements about a price hike yet.

This move by Intel is driven by the tight supply of Raptor Lake CPUs and lower-than-expected demand for newer AI PC lines, which have led to high demand for last-gen chips. Quoting the report, “Unfortunately, AI PCs are not the first choice for consumers”. It is only logical to assume that Intel wants to maximize profits before the end of the year.

Editor’s note: The source wasn’t in English, and parts were machine-translated.

Intel’s Latest CPU Generations Explained

Intel’s 15th Gen lineup pivots toward AI acceleration, with Arrow Lake desktop and Lunar Lake mobile introducing integrated NPUs, but gaming results have been mixed.

At launch, Arrow Lake often trailed the 14th Gen Raptor Lake in gaming CPU performance, and Intel publicly acknowledged the underperformance before issuing software and firmware updates. Lunar Lake focuses on battery life and on-device AI, but this SoC is not a clear upgrade for gaming laptops that rely on a discrete GPU, which limits its appeal to PC gamers.

Raptor Lake debuted with 13th Gen, and 14th Gen followed as a refresh focused on higher clocks and minor core changes on specific models. Raptor Lake CPUs remain the backbone of many gaming PCs, with Intel Core i5-13600K/14600K covering the mid-range and new Core i7 and Core i9 models at the high end.

Steam’s August 2025 hardware survey revealed that Intel holds approximately a 60% share of the CPUs among users. That is not limited to 13th or 14th generation, but price changes on those lines could still affect many gaming builds due to brand preference and same-chipset upgrades.

Rising Costs of Gaming Hardware in 2025

PC RAM pricing

As a reminder, RAM is also becoming more expensive. Samsung has informed customers that it will raise DRAM contract prices in Q4 2025 by approximately 15% to 30%, while also reducing legacy DDR4 capacity into 2026, which will tighten supply for older or budget gaming rigs. Micron paused DRAM quotations to form new pricing after early hikes from competitors.

With DDR4 entering end-of-life and production shrinking, prices have risen already through the summer of 2025. DDR5 RAM may follow, with price increases varying by speed and size.

SSD pricing and availability

SSD pricing is under pressure, too. Samsung guided partners for a 5% to 10% rise in NAND contract prices in Q4. SanDisk had already raised NAND pricing by about 10% in September, while Micron also paused its NAND quotations. NAND is a type of non-volatile flash memory used in SSDs, phones, and memory cards.

Strong demand and a shift by cloud providers toward QLC enterprise SSDs increase the risk of a QLC shortage by 2026, which will also harm consumer prices. The immediate impact will be most visible on high-capacity 4-8 TB NVMe SSDs for PCs, and on large microSD cards used in handheld devices, as they use QLC. Later, it may ripple into smaller-capacity non-QLC drives.

Current-gen consoles

Console pricing has tightened due to the combination of US tariffs risks and price hikes and potential shortages of components:

• Sony raised the prices of all PlayStation 5 models in the US by $50 on August 21, 2025.
• Microsoft announced a US price increase for the Xbox Series X|S, effective October 3, which raises prices across the lineup, from $20 on the cheapest variant to $70 on the most expensive model, the Galaxy Black.
• In Europe, Sony quietly shipped a revised PS5 Digital Edition in September, which reduces internal storage from 1 TB to 825 GB at the same €499 price. Shrinkflation reached gaming hardware.