Amazon hikes hardware prices by 60 percent, blaming memory shortage
Amazon has increased prices for its hardware devices, such as Fire TVs and Echo speakers, by up to 60% due to rising memory and storage component costs. The company attributes these hikes to a global memory shortage exacerbated by the AI industry's demand for hardware.
Why it matters
This illustrates how the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure is creating supply chain constraints that directly impact consumer electronics pricing.
Over the weekend, Amazon significantly raised the prices of its hardware devices, jacking them up by as much as 60 percent in some cases.
The price explosion impacted Fire TVs, Echos, Kindles, and Eeros. One egregious example that’s been cited is that of the Echo Dot, one of Amazon’s cheapest smart speakers, the price of which jumped 60% overnight, from $49.99 to $79.99. Price tracking sites like CamelCamelCamel show the stark uptick, which has previously hovered much lower.
When reached for comment by TechCrunch, Amazon shared the following: “The consumer electronics industry is facing significant increases in memory and storage component costs. After absorbing these increases for as long as we could, we recently adjusted pricing across our product lines.”
The company also said that it would continue to offer occasional promotions to customers over the course of the next year.
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