Consumers looking to upgrade their smartphones or gaming consoles this year are facing a sharp reality check: the era of stable or falling tech prices has paused. Apple and Microsoft have both moved to raise prices on select hardware, citing an unprecedented surge in component costs that is rippling through the global supply chain.
Apple recently increased prices for several products outside the United States, with some models seeing hikes approaching 20 percent. In Japan, for example, the iPhone 13 lineup jumped roughly 19 percent in yen terms, while the iPad Air and various Mac models also saw double-digit percentage increases. Around the same time, Microsoft confirmed a price increase for its Xbox Series X console in most markets — raising the cost by approximately $50 in the U.S. (to $549) and similar margins in the UK and Europe. The Series S remained unchanged.
The moves reflect a broader inflationary squeeze on the bill of materials for high-end electronics. Apple executives stated bluntly that the company had “never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly.” The pressure stems from multiple fronts: advanced semiconductor fabrication capacity remains tight, memory and storage chip prices have swung upward after a prolonged glut, and logistics costs — from shipping containers to air freight — remain elevated compared to pre-pandemic baselines. Currency volatility has amplified the impact; the strong U.S. dollar means that even if component costs were flat in dollar terms, local-currency prices in Japan, Europe, and the UK would need to rise to maintain margins.
For years, the consumer tech trajectory followed a predictable pattern: performance per dollar improved annually. Smartphones, laptops, and consoles typically held launch prices or saw discounts within months. The current increases break that pattern. Apple last raised iPhone prices in a major market during the iPhone 8/X cycle in 2017, and even then, the moves were modest and region-specific. Microsoft held the Xbox Series X/S launch prices for nearly three years — an unusually long stretch in a category where mid-cycle price cuts are standard.
If you are planning a purchase, the calculus has changed. A $50 or ¥20,000 increase may not alter a dedicated enthusiast’s decision, but for households budgeting for back-to-school laptops or holiday gifts, the cumulative effect across devices is real. Trade-in values for older hardware have held relatively high, which can offset some of the increase, but carriers and retailers are also scaling back aggressive promotional subsidies that previously masked true device costs.
More broadly, these hikes signal that the deflationary forces that made tech consistently cheaper — globalization, just-in-time manufacturing, and Moore’s Law scaling — are running into physical and geopolitical limits. Chip fabrication is concentrating in fewer hands (TSMC, Samsung), energy costs in Asia and Europe are volatile, and governments are subsidizing domestic semiconductor production, which may keep capital costs high.
Analysts expect the upcoming iPhone 15 series to carry higher starting prices in the U.S. for Pro models, continuing the trend. On the gaming side, Sony already raised the PlayStation 5 price in most regions last year, leaving Nintendo’s Switch as the only current-gen console not to see a mid-cycle increase. For buyers, the practical takeaway is straightforward: if you need a device now, factor in the new baseline; if you can wait, monitor refurbished and certified pre-owned channels, which often offer 15–20 percent discounts off the new higher MSRPs.
Image: Photo: Rohit Sharma · Pexels
Based on reporting from bbc.co.uk.
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