Xbox with another hardware price increase? I gotta laugh to keep from crying," wrote one X user reacting to Microsoft's decision to raise the cost of its five-year-old Xbox Series S and X consoles by at least $100 (£75.70). It is the third price hike in just over a year, and means a new console will be 30% to 40% more expensive than it was this time last year. On Reddit, another user said Xbox "may as well just cancel" its upcoming console Helix "because no one will be able to afford it".
The moves come as tech giants blame the rising cost of crucial components – particularly random access memory (RAM), a once-cheap part now dubbed "Ramageddon" – on soaring demand from AI data centres. Compute-hungry facilities powering artificial intelligence need more and more chips, far outstripping supply.
“Xbox, Apple and Nintendo raise prices citing AI-driven component shortages, as consumers decry soaring costs.”
Apple joined the trend, raising prices of its tablets and laptops by nearly 20% on Thursday, citing an "unprecedented challenge" with memory chips. The announcement sent Apple's share price tumbling, part of a wider sell-off of tech stocks amid fears that AI investment would hit device sales.
Other firms are following suit. Nintendo said it would raise the Switch 2's price globally from September. Valve recently launched its new Steam Machine gaming PC at a higher price than expected, after raising the cost of its handheld Steam Deck by 40% in May for similar reasons. Valve's announcement began with a long explanation about spiking component costs.
Yang Wang, principal analyst at Counterpoint Research, called the memory crisis "the most disruptive supply-side event the smartphone industry has ever faced". The iPhone has so far been shielded from price hikes, and Wang said premium phone makers such as Apple and Samsung were "better positioned to weather the disruption".
But for consumers, the pain is immediate. As one Xbox fan put it: "My favourite hobby is cooked."