The edge computing narrative isn't quite panning out the way industry analysts anticipated. Surging commodity prices in memory and semiconductors have created a fundamental problem: consumer-grade devices are becoming prohibitively expensive to manufacture. This cost squeeze directly undermines the entire value proposition of edge computing—bringing computation closer to data sources. When the hardware becomes too dear, adoption stalls. Market reality is colliding with previous bullish forecasts, forcing a reckoning about whether edge infrastructure can actually scale affordably in the near term.