Amazon raises hardware prices by up to 60%, citing memory shortage
Amazon sharply raised prices on its devices — Fire TV, Echo, Kindle and Eero — over the weekend, with some models jumping as much as 60%. The company blamed rising costs of memory and storage components.
Amazon significantly raised prices across several of its hardware product lines over the weekend, with some devices seeing increases of up to 60%. The affected lineups include Fire TV streaming devices, Echo smart speakers, Kindle e-readers and Eero routers.
One widely cited example is the Echo Dot, among Amazon's cheapest smart speakers, whose price jumped overnight from $49.99 to $79.99 — roughly a 60% increase. Price-tracking tools such as CamelCamelCamel show the sharp spike compared to the device's previously much lower price history.
Amazon's explanation
When contacted by TechCrunch, Amazon said the consumer electronics industry is facing significant cost increases for memory and storage components. The company said it had absorbed these rising costs for as long as it could before recently adjusting prices across its product lines. Amazon added that it would continue offering occasional promotions to customers over the coming year.
Wider context
The price hikes underscore how difficult a time it currently is to buy hardware. A global memory shortage, driven by the AI boom and dubbed "RAMmageddon," is pushing up production costs across many types of devices, and companies are increasingly passing those costs on to consumers.
Apple recently made a similar move, raising its own device prices while introducing a leasing program that lets customers pay off devices over time. The memory shortage is expected to persist throughout 2027, with prices potentially stabilizing only in 2028.
