Higher prices for smartphones, laptops and other electronics are inevitable this year due to a global memory chip shortage, the boss of Currys warned.

Alex Baldock said AI and data centres are eating up the world supply of silicon, meaning less is left for mobile phones and laptops.

He added: ‘That will cause availability challenges and some cost price inflation.

‘We’ve seen this coming for some time; we’ve made sure we’ve bought [silicon] forward, so we’ve got good security of supply in computing and phones until at least September. 

'We’re working really hard to protect the consumer as far as possible from price rises.’