The Xbox Series X is about to cost $800. That number would have been hard to believe two years ago, but here we are, and the situation is only getting harder to explain away as a temporary blip.
Microsoft confirmed the Xbox Series X will jump to $800 on August 1, the third price increase since May 2025. The Xbox Series S, which launched at $300, now sits at $500 after the same round of hikes. These are not small adjustments.
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What Lenovo's warning actually means for hardware buyers
Lenovo executive director Martin Hiegl addressed the memory pricing situation directly at the ISC conference in Germany, telling attendees that DRAM and NAND flash prices will likely "never" return to their early 2025 levels. His framing was blunt: elevated memory costs could be the new normal well into 2030 and beyond.
Here's the thing: Lenovo is not a neutral observer here. The company manufactures PCs, servers, and consumer devices that all depend on the same memory supply chains affecting gaming hardware. When someone in that position uses the word "never" in a professional setting, it carries weight.
The shortages and sustained demand spikes that drove DRAM and NAND prices up have not resolved. Supply has not caught up. And with AI infrastructure consuming enormous amounts of memory capacity globally, there is genuine structural pressure on the same chips that go into gaming consoles.
Every console is getting more expensive
The full picture across platforms makes for uncomfortable reading.
Sony has pushed the PS5 disc model to $650 and the PS5 Pro to $900. Nintendo is raising the Switch 2 from $450 to $500 on September 1, following earlier increases to the Switch 1 lineup that took effect in August 2025.
The key here is that no single company is the outlier. When Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo all raise prices across multiple SKUs inside a 12-month window, the cause is not corporate greed or a PR miscalculation. It reflects real cost increases moving through the supply chain.
The player-side reality of $800 consoles
For anyone who bought an Xbox Series X at launch for $500, the current trajectory is jarring. The console is now 60% more expensive than it was at release, and that gap is not being offset by a meaningful hardware upgrade. You are paying more for the same box.
What most players miss is that this affects more than just the sticker price at retail. Accessories, storage expansions, and any hardware that relies on NAND flash storage have been following the same upward curve. The era of cheap, fast storage that made the Xbox Velocity Architecture and PS5's SSD speeds a selling point is now colliding with the same memory cost crisis.
The Steam Machine entering the market at a starting price of $1,049 adds another data point to the same trend. Premium gaming hardware across every form factor is repricing upward, and Lenovo's assessment suggests there is no near-term correction coming.
For players budgeting their next console purchase, the calculus has genuinely shifted. Waiting for a price drop, a strategy that worked reliably throughout the PS4 and Xbox One generations, looks far less reliable now. Check out our gaming guides for coverage on getting the most out of whatever platform you are currently on while the hardware market finds its footing.
