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Dell's XPS 14 now costs over $2,000. An AMD executive predicts that PC builders will likely make piecemeal upgrades this year, instead of building entirely new systems. And new AI supercomputers from NVIDIA and AMD are gobbling up the RAM market. At CES 2026, it was hard not to notice the dire year ahead for the computing industry, one that will likely lead to higher prices and more limited availability for consumer goods across the board.Really, though, the show just confirmed what was apparent since RAM prices skyrocketed over the last few months, driven by demand from AI datacenters. As Samsung's marketing leader, Wonjin Lee, told Bloomberg at CES: "There's going to be issues around semiconductor supplies, and it's going to affect everyone. Prices are going up even as we speak."Dell's new XPS 14 and XPS 16 are among the earliest systems hit by these demands. Last year's models started at $1,699 and $1,899, respectively, and we were initially told the new models would actually come in cheaper at $1,650 and $1,850. But Dell later announced a shocking price jump: The XPS 14 now starts at $2,050, while the XPS 16 is $2,200. While it didn't take much to configure the earlier models upwards of $2,000, it's genuinely wild to me that the entry-level models are already starting there. And meanwhile, Apple still hasn't budged its $1,599 MacBook Pro 14-inch pricing. At least Dell still comes in cheaper than the $2,499 MacBook Pro 16-inch.On the desktop front, AMD's David McAfee, Corporate Vice President and GM of Client Channel Business, noted that the longevity of the company's AM4 and AM5 platforms might be a boon for gamers, since they can upgrade their CPUs without buying new RAM kits and motherboards. That allows for a pathway to better performance without paying out the nose for over-priced RAM."I think that will be potentially a trend that we see in 2026 with more component upgrades, as opposed to full system swap outs and, and altogether rebuilds," he said in a group interview with Engadget and other outlets. "Some of the most popular CPUs that are still running in gamers platforms are parts like the 2600 back to the Pinnacle Ridge days, or 3000 series... Stepping even from there into a little bit more modern 5,000 series processors in an AM4 socket and motherboard, there's a pretty big boost there."McAfee added that around 30 to 40 percent of AMD's business still revolves around the AM4 platform, even without the specter of a wild memory market."There's no product that has memory in it that's immune to some of these forces around DRAM pricing and, and what it's doing to the market," he said, when asked about potential GPU price increases. "I think the, the truth is the volatility that we've seen over the past two months or so has really been unprecedented." Looking ahead, he said he expects prices to settle within the first three to six months of the year, but he didn't discuss his reasoning further. As an aside, he also noted that AMD's X3D chips, which feature 3D V-cache, actually don't see much of a hit from slower RAM. Their high amounts of onboard L2 and L3 cache make up for less ideal memory transfer speeds, McAfee said.That McAfee commented at all about the state of RAM is noteworthy. Every PC maker Ive asked, including Dell and Acer, refused to comment on the volatile state of the memory industry ahead of CES. Perhaps they were hoping things would calm down before they had to price their new systems. Ultimately, theyre beholden to an increasingly limited supply of RAM. And where is all that memory going? At CES, NVIDIA announced its new Vera Rubin AI supercomputer, which supports up to 54TB of RAM across 36 Vera CPUs and 20.7TB of memory across 72 GPUs. AMD, as well, announced its new Helios AI rack, which supports up to 31TB of memory across 72 AMD Instinct MI455X GPUs. Given the endless appetite for computing to power AI model building and inferencing, theres likely going to be a significant demand for these beastly systems.Put simply: Our global supply of memory is being sacrificed to appease the AI industry. Thats good news for the likes of OpenAI, Microsoft and NVIDIA, but bad news for anyone who cares about PCs and the consumer products we use every day. Get ready for a year of price hikes. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/ces-2026-proved-the-pc-industry-is-hosed-this-year-174500314.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
Clicks is an apologetically gadgety company, making gear that feels charmingly out-of-place in a world where almost every smartphone out there is an all-screen slab. That was obviously two years ago when the company first revealed its keyboard case that brought tactile typing to the iPhone and eventually other Android devices. Rather than that being a one-off curiosity, the company had two new announcements at CES 2026: a magnetic keyboard accessory that also doubles as a battery bank and small, squat mobile phone with a keyboard. And while there isnt a working prototype of the Clicks Communicator available for the press to see, I got to check out the new Power Keyboard talk with Clicks co-founder and former BlackBerry marketing director Jeff Gadway about where he thinks his products fit into the smartphone world.At first glance, the $79 Power Keyboard feels like a big improvement over the original Clicks Keyboard case. It magnetically attaches to any phone with Qi2 and connects over Bluetooth. The keyboard itself is similar to the original Clicks keyboard, but theres a dedicated number row which is a nice improvement. But the thing that really caught my eye was its old-school slider form factor. When closed, the Power Keyboard sits on the back of your phone like a thick wireless battery pack but it satisfyingly slides up to reveal the keyboard like the Palm Pre or BlackBerry Torch smartphones of old. The magnetic, sliding Clicks Power Keyboard.Nathan Ingraham for EngadgetThe Power Keyboards last trick is that it can charge your phone up when attached. The battery itself isnt huge, so youre not going to fully recharge a modern smartphone. But its still a nice addition for if you need some power in a pinch. You can also set it up so it doesnt charge your phone and instead uses all the battery to power the keyboard; in that situation, the keyboard will last weeks without a charge. Or you can designate a percentage that can only be used by the keyboard for example, if the battery packs charge drops below 20 percent, itll stop charging your phone and instead save that power for the keyboard.The Clicks Power Keyboard, without a phone attached.Nathan Ingraham for EngadgetAs someone who has never owned a smartphone with a keyboard, I cant say how good the Clicks keyboard actually is there would be a definite learning curve before I got comfortable with it. It certainly feels tiny to me, but if you just type on and trust autocorrect you should get the hang of it before too long. Whether the benefits of using a physical keyboard matter are up to you to decide. Its nice seeing a bigger screen unobstructed by the virtual keyboard, but I feel far too set in my touchscreen ways to consider switching it up. But some people just loved their keyboards, and for them this gadget might hit the spot.The Clicks Communicator is the more unexpected of the two new devices the comapny is working on, but without a working demo model I cant render any judgement about how it will actually work. When it was announced, Clicks specifically said they were targeting people who used multiple devices, a demographic that I wasnt fully convinced was large enough to justify the Communicators existence. But Gadway assured me the company had done plenty of research before moving into the hardware production phase. You've got people who are mandated to carry a second device for corporate deploy. Then you've got people who are small business owners and want to have a separate phone for their small business, he said. In markets like Europe, there's a requirement for employers to give people the option to have a separate device and create more separation. You've got travelers who want a second SIM, and then you've got this growing cohort of digital detox, digital minimalism, digital well-being people. None of those segments might be huge on its own, but add it all up and the Clicks team felt like they had a decent opportunity. The Clicks Communicator has an LED Light on its side button that you can customize for different notifications.Nathan Ingraham for EngadgetThe other half of the thought process was making the Communicator different from an iPhone or Pixel instead of having two essentially identical devices, Clicks wanted to make the Communicator with a distinct focus. Our thought process was that complementary devices in tech are on the rise, Gadway said. You wear an Oura Ring and you wear a smart watch; you carry an e-reader for reading and a tablet for content consumption. So why shouldn't your second phone be better at certain things than your first phone instead of just being a straight duplicate?Thats where the squarish, 4-inch touchscreen, keyboard and custom implementation of the Niagara Android launcher, which is a list-based UI rather than a grid of apps. The custom Clicks implementation of it focuses on your messaging apps and quickly triaging through new items (hence the Communicator name). The keyboard itself is touch sensitive and can be swiped across to navigate and take actions on what you see. But the Communicator is just an Android phone at heart which means you can install any apps that you find essential though its form factor changes what it is best used for. You can download whatever apps you want, but we've optimized it to be better at specific things, Gadway said. So, you know, do you want to watch letterboxed TikTok videos on this? Probably not. You could, but it's not the thing you#39;re going to reach for to do that. But we're not going to give you a product that restricts what you can do.The good thing about being a smaller hardware maker is that Clicks doesnt need to sell millions of these theyre just interested in offering an alternative for people who might enjoy it, just as theyve done with their keyboard accessories. Of course, the Communicator is a bigger investment; its up for pre-order now for $399 (thats Pixel 9a territory, for comparison). Once it launches in the second half of the year, well find out if it can find its audience. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/the-clicks-co-founder-explains-who-its-tiny-communicator-phone-is-for-170000501.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
Meta has announced three new agreements to purchase nuclear power for its AI infrastructure as well as the Prometheus supercluster, a 1-gigawatt data center being built in Ohio. The social media giant is partnering with power companies Vistra, TerraPower and Oklo to deliver an expected 6.6 gigawatts of generation to its projects by 2035. The company's agreement with TerraPower will fund the development of two new reactors capable of delivering up to 690 megawatts of power as early as 2032. The deal also gives Meta rights to energy from six other reactors that could deliver an additional 2.1 gigawatts by 2035. All this power would come from TerraPower's "Natrium" reactors, which use sodium instead of water as a coolant. A partnership with Oklo will bring 1.2 gigawatts of nuclear power online as early as 2030. Meta says the agreement opens the door to the construction of multiple Oklo reactors, which it claims will create thousands of construction and long-term operations jobs in Ohio. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is one of Oklo's largest investors, and owns just over 4 percent of the company. Metas agreement with Vistra focuses on keeping existing nuclear plants running longer and boosting their output. Through new 20-year deals, Meta will buy more than 2.1 gigawatts of electricity from some of Vistras existing plants in Ohio, while also backing added capacity at those sites, plus another in Pennsylvania. Vistra expects the added capacity, totaling 433 megawatts, to come online in the early 2030s. Big tech is increasingly turning to nuclear to power its AI ambitions. Meta signed a 20-year agreement with Constellation Energy for nuclear power last year. Meanwhile Microsoft is famously reopening Three Mile Island and will be the plants sole customer as part of a 20-year deal.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/meta-announces-a-slew-of-nuclear-energy-agreements-165337159.html?src=rss
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