Amid dwindling hardware profits, Microsoft raised the price for the Xbox Series X/S and its accessories worldwide – and then did so again in the United States last month. If you want to purchase an Xbox Series X, it’ll cost a whopping $649.99, and while tariffs contributed to the latest bump, shortsightedness may lead to a third.
Following OpenAI’s securing about 900,000 DRAM wafers monthly in deals with Samsung and SK hynix, there are fears of a RAM shortage for other devices, which has seemingly led to companies rushing to acquire the same. Whatever’s left will cost much more, and according to Moore’s Law is Dead on YouTube, Microsoft hasn’t planned for this possibility.
“They didn’t plan ahead at all, apparently. If you still want an Xbox for some reason at their current pricing, those prices could go up soon, or supply could entirely dry up because multiple sources of mine have apparently been warned by sales reps at Microsoft that this is going to affect the Xbox Series consoles very, very soon. Sooner rather than later.”
However, it seems Sony was prepared for such an occurrence and reportedly purchased “gobs of RAM” while they were still cheap. “From what I’ve heard, Sony planned ahead, bought up gobs of RAM near the bottom of the pricing, and thus they should be fine for months. They have plenty of GDDR6, at least that’s what I’m told.”
While the PS5 could see another price increase sometime next year, the current Black Friday discounts reflect Sony’s confidence in its RAM supplies. “They aren’t just doing this as some extreme move or because sales are bad. They can afford to do it; apparently, they are not worried about the RAM shortage, at least in the short to mid term.”
If a new price increase hits the Xbox Series X/S, it could very well happen in December for the Holidays. As always, stay tuned for updates.
