Amazon devices are the latest casualties of the memory shortage price hikes – JP
Everything from the Echo to the Kindle is going up.
No company is immune to the continuing chip shortage and its effect on pricing, not even Amazon. As first spotted by Fortune, Amazon has increased prices across its Echo, Fire TV, Kindle and eero product lineups without any major announcement. The price hikes are as high as 60 percent in some cases and as expensive as $100 more in others.
The base model Echo Dot saw the highest percentage increase in price, going from $50 to $80, while other Echo products were equally hit with steep changes, like the Echo Show 21 that went from $400 to $500. On the less expensive side of products, the Fire TV Stick HD has been bumped up from $35 to $40, while the Fire TV Stick 4K Max also increased from $60 to $85. Amazon’s popular e-readers have new price tags, with the 16GB model of the latest Kindle now costing $150, instead of $110, and the 16GB model of the Kindle Paperwhite now at $200, compared to its previous $160 price.
Amazon’s mesh Wi-Fi product, eero, is also now more expensive with the eero 7 that comes with three devices now costing $400, instead of $350. The eero Pro 7 3-pack shot up from $700 to $800. As noted by Fortune, Amazon Ring products managed to avoid any price updates. An Amazon spokesperson confirmed the price increase to Fortune and attributed the changes to “significant increases in memory and storage component costs,” adding that Amazon still wants to proviude products at accessible prices as well as offer promotions throughout the year.
Amazon is the latest tech giant forced to adjust prices thanks to the ongoing RAMaggeddon. Earlier this summer, Apple made the same decision to increase prices across its hardware products like iPads and MacBooks. For similar reasons, Roku raised prices across its devices up to $50 in July.