Framework is refunding laptop buyers. Nintendo’s ‘thank you’ is a sale

Framework is a company that makes modular, repairable laptops. And there are a lot of reasons to like it. But in the begotten hellscape that is the PC market of 2026, I have a very particular reason for liking the brand: it’s honest. Framework has put its every trial and tribulation on display during the RAM crisis, communicating directly to consumers why and how prices are going up.

It’s bad news, obviously. Nobody likes to be told that they’re paying more for the same thing — or as it might be, a lot more for considerably less. But as a small company that’s trying to trade on trust with its customers, this is objectively the right call. Framework has been updating its customers (and the broader tech world, thanks!) every painful step of the way.

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.

So Nintendo’s response to getting unexpected money in its pocket, for costs which were ultimately passed on to consumers, is to… ask you to buy more stuff. Classy. I bet those customers feel really appreciated.

I think Nintendo has been treating its customers better than Sony and Microsoft as of late, with the exception of anyone trying to engage with its classic games on a fan level. But that’s a real icky move, only highlighted by Framework’s far more dignified response to a temporary reprieve from horrible memory prices.