A new report has claimed that the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series S and X are facing yet another price hike this year, following the recent confirmation from both Sony and Microsoft about the markup for the almost six-year-old gaming machines.
PS5, Xbox Series S and X Price Hike Coming Again
Jefferies Equity Research published a new memory market analysis projecting a string of significant RAM price increases through the rest of 2026 and into 2027.
For console buyers, that forecast carries a direct implication as the PS5 and Xbox Series S and X are likely to get more expensive again before the year is over.
Neither Sony nor Microsoft has commented on upcoming price changes, and neither the PS5 nor the Xbox Series consoles have had official price increase announcements tied to this report.
Based on the trajectory of memory pricing and both companies' history of passing component costs on to consumers, another round of retail increases is being treated as likely rather than speculative.
Due to Q3, Q4 2026 Projected RAM Price Increase
According to the report (via ComicBook Gaming), memory prices are expected to increase by 40% to 50% in the third quarter of 2026, followed by another 30% to 40% increase in the fourth quarter. A further 40% to 45% increase is projected for 2027, with prices not expected to stabilize until 2028.
There is currently no expectation for prices to return to pre-shortage levels in the foreseeable future as long as AI server demand continues to drive competition for available supply.
The bill of materials for the PS6 reportedly rose by $200 over the last few months due to RAM and storage price increases alone. This is contributing to expectations that the PS6 will cost roughly $1000 at launch.
If the same component cost pressure is hitting Sony's next-generation hardware, it is hitting the current-generation PS5 as well, since both rely on memory supply chains facing the same AI-driven shortages.
The forecast from Jefferies points to quarter-over-quarter increases, meaning the pressure is not a one-time adjustment but a compounding problem. Each projected increase builds on the last, and with no stabilization expected until 2028, both Sony and Microsoft face a worsening cost picture for hardware they have already been struggling to price competitively.
Based on the quarterly increases projected, it looks like price hikes for both consoles are expected before the end of the year, likely ahead of the holiday season, and then again in the first half of 2027.
Will the Console's Prices be Unreachable?
The normal pattern in a console generation is that prices fall over time as components age, manufacturing becomes more efficient, and hardware revisions reduce production costs.
That is not what has happened with the PS5 and Xbox Series S and X as both saw price increases rather than decreases across their lifespans, making this a significant shift from what the market has been used to in the past decades.
While both Sony and Microsoft have sold hardware at a loss before, it has historically been with the expectation that component costs would fall quickly. The new expectation is that the bill of materials is only going to increase over time, making that approach unsustainable.
Raising prices again, into an already weakened market, risks pushing more buyers to wait for the next generation rather than investing in aging hardware that is still climbing in cost.
