Why Samsung's new Galaxy Book 6 Pro is $500 more expensive

Samsung unveiled its Galaxy Book 6 series at the Consumer Electronics Show 2026 earlier this month. The lineup has two models, the Galaxy Book 6 Pro and the Galaxy Book 6 Ultra.

It's not uncommon for new iterations to be a bit more expensive than their predecessors. However, the new Galaxy Book 6 Pro has seen a price increase of over $500 across the lineup, and there's a familiar culprit to blame.

Samsung has only confirmed pricing for the Galaxy Book 6 Pro in South Korea so far. It starts at 2.6 million won or roughly $1,800 for the 14-inch and 3.51 million won or $2,434 for the 16-inch model.

It's a significant jump when you consider that the 14-inch and 16-inch models of the Galaxy Book 5 Pro were priced at 1.768 million won or roughly $1,200 and 2.8 million won or $1,908, respectively.

Notably, this is the first time that the price for a Galaxy Book model has crossed the 3 million won or $2,000 mark. A similar comparison can't be made for the Galaxy Book 6 Ultra as last year's Galaxy Book lineup did not have an Ultra model.

The culprit? Rising prices for memory chips. You've probably read about it a dozen times by now. Higher prices for memory chips of all types are making consumer electronic devices more expensive across the board. Price increases are also expected for smartphones and other devices as the memory price surge is expected to remain for the foreseeable future.

A report out of South Korea also mentions that the low initial yield rates for the Intel chipset Samsung is using in this lineup have led to higher prices. If Samsung is having to pay more for the chipset, the cost will ultimately pass on to the consumer.

Samsung hasn't confirmed Galaxy Book 6 Pro pricing for the United States and other countries as yet, but you can bet it's going to deliver a sticker shock as well.