“Rising cost of memory,” Microsoft explains why Windows 11 will use less RAM

Microsoft’s Windows chief Pavan Davuluri has admitted that the rising cost of memory is pushing the company to make Windows 11 use less RAM. Microsoft is working on the Windows memory manager, memory compression, WinUI 3 and WebView2, and has made “memory optimization for 8GB and above” an official priority for the rest of 2026.

In an episode of Microsoft’s Inside Windows podcast spotted by Windows Latest, a Surface Pro owner asked if Microsoft would improve memory consumption, since they had to disable on-device AI services just to run a local model.

“I do think memory is top of mind for us right now in the industry, especially as we look at the rising cost of memory for computers across the board,” said Davuluri. “For us, as a Windows team, we have clear efforts around driving better…