People shopping for laptops, tablets, consoles or phones are running into another round of price increases, and the boring little memory chip is doing a lot of the damage. Apple raised prices on MacBooks and iPads in June, while Microsoft said Xbox consoles will cost more starting in August. Sony has already raised prices on the PlayStation 5 Pro, according to Wired.
The pressure is not coming from one clean villain, which is inconvenient for anyone hoping for a tidy spreadsheet. Last year’s tariffs added cost to electronics. Higher oil prices have made gasoline and shipping more expensive. The bigger problem, according to Shawn DuBravac, chief economist at the Global Electronics Association, is a shortage of memory components as suppliers prioritize chips for AI data centers over other products that also need memory.
That mechanism is straightforward enough. AI server buildouts consume large volumes of memory, and chipmakers can sell into that demand. PCs, tablets, consoles, phones and plenty of other consumer devices also need memory, but they now compete with data-center buyers that are willing to pay. When parts stay scarce long enough, device makers stop swallowing the extra cost and move it into retail prices. Consumers get the invoice, because of course they do.
DuBravac told Wired that shoppers should not assume this is a brief pricing wobble. “In the past, you maybe could have waited out little blips like this,” he said. “I don't think that’s the case here. Waiting is not a strategy right now and probably won’t be for the foreseeable future.”
His advice, as reported by Wired, is to look at refurbished gear if that fits the need. For new products, he said shoppers should pay attention to which categories have already been repriced. Products that have not yet been hit may be next. Items that have already gone up may give buyers a little more time, because large electronics companies do not change pricing casually.
The timing is ugly for households staring at back-to-school purchases and the holiday gadget cycle. Thibaud Hug de Larauze, chief executive of secondhand marketplace Back Market, told Wired that buyers are worried about paying more for their next device. He said that fear can push people to upgrade sooner because they are afraid prices will keep rising.
The squeeze is also making used electronics more valuable. Sean Cleland, vice president of mobility tech at recommerce company B-Stock, told Wired that used smartphones are selling for 10 to 20 percent more than they were in December 2025. In a typical year, he said, used phones would be losing value instead.
Cleland expects supply chains to recover eventually, but not to erase the gains in resale pricing. “Secondary market pricing will go back to normal depreciation, but it will continue being a step above what it was in 2025,” he told Wired. “It just never comes all the way back.”
That shift cuts both ways. Buyers may find refurbished devices more attractive as new hardware climbs, especially for phones that can still get useful life after resale. Sellers may also get more money through trade-in, buyback programs or third-party marketplaces while shortages persist. Manufacturers have expanded their own resale and trade-in programs for phones, computers, tablets, watches and headphones, according to Wired.
Secondhand gear also keeps devices in use instead of pushing them toward e-waste streams. That is not charity. It is market plumbing responding to expensive new hardware, scarce memory and the AI infrastructure buildout eating from the same parts bin as everyone else.
This story draws on original reporting from WIRED.
