Mangaluru: Computer and laptop dealers across Mangaluru are reporting a sharp decline in sales as rising hardware prices discourage customers from upgrading their devices. Industry representatives attribute the price surge to increasing memory chip costs and growing global demand driven by artificial intelligence (AI).

The Mangalore IT Dealers Association, citing industry reports, said higher memory chip prices and rapid AI adoption have contributed to a global supply crunch, pushing up the cost of computers, laptops and related hardware.

Association president Melwin Dias said the impact has extended beyond computers and laptops to the surveillance equipment sector.

“Escalating component costs have significantly reduced customer footfall. The surveillance-based IT business alone has witnessed a decline of nearly 40 percent,” he said.

An executive at an HP showroom in Mangaluru said laptop sales have dropped by nearly 50 percent over the past five months.

“Laptops that were earlier available for around Rs 30,000 are now priced close to Rs 60,000. Earlier, we sold around 45 to 50 laptops during this period. In recent months, sales have fallen to just 20 to 25 units,” he said.

Nagendra Prabhu of Suprabhath Computers said sales of computers, laptops and SSDs at his store have declined by more than 50 percent.

Similarly, Panduranga Shenoy of Shenoy Computers, Bunts Hostel Road, said desktop systems powered by Intel Core i3 processors, which previously cost between Rs 35,000 and Rs 40,000, are now priced close to Rs 60,000.

A distributor for brands including Lenovo, Dell and Brother, Shenoy said business has slowed considerably since January this year, with the downturn affecting demand across almost every product category.

Dealers say many customers who had planned to replace or upgrade their systems are postponing purchases in anticipation of lower prices or opting to continue using older devices.