Amazon Echo Dot (left), Google Home Speaker (center), Apple HomePod mini (right).
Maria Diaz/ZDNET
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ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Amazon has raised prices on Echos, Kindles, and other products.
- The price of an Echo Dot has risen by 60% to $79.99.
- Amazon blamed the hikes on the costs of memory and storage chips.
Shopping for a new Echo, Kindle, or other Amazon product? You may have to shell out more for the item than you would have less than a week ago.
Late last week, Amazon raised prices on several of its key products, according to a review by Fortune. The increases affect a few categories, specifically Echos, Kindles, Fire TV sticks, and Amazon eero routers. Looking at the sheer percentages, the price jumps vary. But with the 5th-generation Echo Dot, for example, you’ll now pay 60% more to snag one.
How much will these devices cost now?
Here’s a breakdown of all the affected products with the old and new prices, courtesy of our friends at The Verge (subscription required).
|
Product |
Old price |
New price |
Percentage difference |
|
Echo Dot (5th gen) |
$49.99 |
$79.99 |
60% |
|
Echo Dot Max |
$99.99 |
$119.99 |
20% |
|
Echo Spot |
$79.99 |
$109.99 |
37.50% |
|
Echo Show 8 |
$179.99 |
$199.99 |
11.10% |
|
Echo Show 11 |
$219.99 |
$249.99 |
13.60% |
|
Echo Show 15 |
$299.99 |
$349.99 |
16.70% |
|
Echo Show 21 |
$399.99 |
$499.99 |
25% |
|
Kindle (16GB) |
$109.99 |
$149.99 |
36.40% |
|
Kindle Paperwhite (16GB) |
$159.99 |
$199.99 |
25% |
|
Fire TV Stick HD |
$34.99 |
$39.99 |
14.30% |
|
Fire TV Stick 4K Max |
$59.99 |
$84.99 |
41.70% |
|
eero 7 (3-pack) |
$349.99 |
$399.99 |
14.30% |
|
eero Pro 7 (3-pack) |
$699.99 |
$799.99 |
14.30% |
Why such dramatic price hikes on these core products? It’s now become a familiar refrain. Blame the increased costs of memory and storage chips.
Also: Why Amazon’s Echo Hub became my favorite way to control my smart home
“The consumer electronics industry is facing significant increases in memory and storage component costs,” Kristy Schmidt, senior communications manager of Amazon’s Devices & Services division, said in a statement shared with ZDNET. “After absorbing these increases for as long as we could, we recently adjusted pricing across our product lines. Our approach has always been to offer great products at accessible prices, and that commitment hasn’t changed.”
AI companies have been grabbing much of the available stock of DRAM and NAND flash storage for their systems and data centers. That move has triggered a severe chip shortage for everyone else, resulting in price increases on the available supplies. Plus, the major memory manufacturers have shifted their limited resources and budgets toward higher-margin, enterprise components, leaving scraps for the consumer market.
In June, Apple upped the prices on certain iPad and MacBook models. A basic iPad with 128GB of storage now starts at $449, up from $349. An iPad Air with 128GB of storage now starts at $749, up from $599.A MacBook Air with 512GB of storage now starts at $1,299, up from $1,099.
Also: Apple’s smart home springs a leak – here’s everything we expect to see in September
At the beginning of August, Microsoft bumped up the prices of its Xbox consoles by $100 for the 512GB models and $150 for the 1TB models. Pinning the blame on higher storage and memory costs, the company warned consumers to expect another doubling in consumer prices by the fall of 2027.
As long as the now-dubbed RAMageddon continues, expect to pay higher prices for your favorite tech and consumer electronics devices. The bad news is that this crisis is expected to last at least until 2028 and likely beyond.
